


After All That We've Been Through

by TheFoolsYouSee



Series: After Blood And Souls [5]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Bullying, F/F, Gen, Spiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:47:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29139516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoolsYouSee/pseuds/TheFoolsYouSee
Summary: A magical advertising gimmick brings to the surface Willow's conflicted feelings about her oldest and newest friends dating, forcing her to confront the resentment she'd been trying to hide for the sake of keeping the peace. Meanwhile, Lilith joins a band.
Relationships: Amity Blight & Willow Park, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Emira Blight/Viney
Series: After Blood And Souls [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967302
Comments: 89
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

Willow pulled her tunic over her new pink undershirt and leggings, fastening the belt around her waist and buttoning her cowl across her chest. The sight of the new colour scheme in the mirror made her sigh; she’d been wearing a light grey uniform during the last semester through all her taster sessions for the different tracks at Hexside. The witchling had grown tired of her old uniform’s dullness, and had been hoping to supplement it with the green of the Plant Track. Her parents, however, had gently yet repeatedly pushed the Abomination option, pointing out the solid career path it offered. They’d even encouraged her to seek out her old friend Amity, whose family connections in the coven would help make for a swift rise to an illustrious position. Willow had remained silent at that suggestion – it had been a long time since she’d considered Amity anything like a friend.

She ambled along the woodland path, finding herself reluctant to arrive at the school. Her taster Abomination classes had been hard to follow, what with all the technical terms the diminutive Professor had used, and how he'd moved from topic to topic so quickly. The _Magic 101_ textbook in her satchel now had several passages bookmarked for her to refer to throughout her lessons, and she hoped that if she could just keep up during the first couple of weeks then she’d pick up enough of the basics not to fall behind. She pushed the anxious thoughts from her mind and focused on the forest around her. The presence of the greenery soothed her - even if she couldn't study the subject she really wanted to, she'd still be able go enjoy the walk to school every day. 

Then she noticed the voices coming from behind her on the path. Familiar, harsh voices.

Willow suddenly felt the urge to speed up and pulled her cowl’s hood over her head, hoping the other students would pass without recognising her. But she heard their chatter turn to hushed, giggling whispers, and there was a magical hum – Willow’s shoelaces whipped across the gap between her feet to tie themselves to each other, and she toppled to the floor.

A humiliated burn covered her face as she heard the cackles getting closer, and by the time she’d fumbled around for her glasses the trio of witchlings had caught up. Willow raised her head and looked into the three-eyed face above her.

"Look, it’s Half-A-Witch Willow," Boscha simpered. "First you can’t do magic, now you can’t even _walk_ properly. I don’t know why they’ve let you stay at Hexside."

Willow glared up at the girl who’d been picking on her ever since they’d both joined the magical school. She glanced over at Skara, the shorter, dark-skinned girl on Boscha’s right who was still giggling as if this was all a silly joke. And then she looked at Amity.

The green-haired witchling was peering down at her through half-closed eyes ringed with eyeliner, her mouth turned down in contrast to the amused looks on her friends’ faces. The effect was an air of disdainful superiority which made Willow’s stomach tie in a knot.

"Oh, what’s this?" Boscha bent down and picked up the textbook that had fallen out of Willow’s satchel. "Look at all these bookmarks! Have you been trying to get a head start? Guess you’ll need it."

She held the book out, and Willow cautiously reached forward to take it. But before she could, Boscha let the book fall and it landed open and face down in a muddy puddle with a splat, a few of the bookmarks tumbling out from between the pages.

"Oops!" Boscha said, putting a hand to her mouth with mock-surprise. "I hope you memorised everything."

Willow bit back an angry retort, knowing it would only make things worse for herself. She might be able to clean the mud off the pages, if only the girls would leave. She turned her eyes back to Amity, pleading silently, and the other girl’s expression wavered.

Boscha glanced over at her friend with a frown, but then grinned. "Still, who knows, Willow?" she shrugged. "With all that preparation, this could be when you finally come into your own. You might even get to be top of the Abomination class."

Amity gave Boscha a surprised, slightly fearful look. Then the green-haired girl stepped forward and put her heel on the textbook, twisting it to grind the pages into the mud – Willow winced as she heard them rip.

"Sorry Willow," Amity smirked. "No cheat sheets allowed."

Willow kept her head down to hide her angry tears as the trio of girls walked away, cackling again. She peeled her textbook out of the puddle as carefully as she could, but the pages that weren’t ripped were all soaked through. She wasn’t confident enough in reconstitution spells to try one, so all she could do was wipe as much mud off as she could and leave the book to dry in the morning sun. She untangled her shoelaces from each other and waited until there was no chance she would catch up to the other girls, even if it made her late. Eventually she picked up the book with a sigh and got to her feet, resolving to wear boots from now on.

* * *

Barely a couple of months later, everything had changed. A human girl called Luz had come to the Boiling Isles and helped Willow prove to Principal Bump that she would go much further in the Plant Track than with Abominations. Luz and Willow had become fast friends, and the human’s goofy charm and drive to help others had even managed to get past Amity’s icy outer layer. Through their new friend’s efforts Willow and Amity had, if not fully made up, then gained a new understanding of each other. Willow learned that the reason Amity had broken off their friendship all those years ago was because of pressure from her parents, and in doing so had made sure Willow wouldn’t be barred from enrolling at Hexside. Amity had apologised for the years of allowing her friends’ bullying behaviour to continue, and had begun to stand up to Boscha on her behalf. But although Willow appreciated the change, and despite the two witchlings being in each other’s company more frequently now that Amity and Luz were dating, there was still an unresolved distance between them.

* * *

Willow watched Amity from across the restaurant table; the other girl’s golden eyes were fixed dotingly on the human sat next to her, who was frowning down at the menu.

"So…" Luz looked up at the waitress. "…it’s ALL spiders?"

"That’s right," the multi-eyed and limbed woman holding a notepad replied with a smile.

Luz glanced down at the menu again and shrugged. "I guess I’ll have the spiders."

"Excellent choice." The waitress jotted down the order before looking over to Willow. "And you?"

They each echoed the same order as the waitress went round the table, and she left promising to scuttle back with their food soon. Willow and Amity’s gazes met briefly, and the pair exchanged a quick, awkward smile before both finding something else to look at.

"They’ve changed the look of this place since I was last here," Gus said, looking around at the web-patterned wallpaper. "This is where my Dad used to do all his big interviews."

"Aww, and he brought little toddler you along?" Luz put a hand to her chest.

"Yeah, I was his secret weapon," Gus grinned. "Next time you see Lilith, ask her about the time we interviewed her together."

"I will!" Luz promised. "Whenever that is, anyway..." A conflicted expression came across the human's face. Amity put a pale hand on her girlfriend’s and the tan-skinned teenager looked up, her mouth turning upwards into a smile again. Then it stretched further into a playful grin.

"Luz, _don’t_ ," Amity warned, suppressing a chuckle. "Not again."

"But you ARE my uptown girl," Luz grinned, and leaned in closer when Amity affectionately rolled her eyes. " _Living in your uptown world!"_ she sang obnoxiously.

"We had a double date with Em and Viney round Luz’s last night," Amity explained at the sight of Willow’s quizzical frown.

"Me and Viney found a karaoke machine in Eda’s stock of human things," Luz added proudly, "and we rehearsed a little show before the rich sisters got there."

Amity shook her head. "We are _never_ leaving you two alone together again."

"Oh, you had fun when it was your turn," Luz insisted. "I didn’t know how you could _sing_ , girl!"

Amity blushed. "That apple blood had a LOT of sugar," she justified.

"No, you were really good!" Luz maintained.

"Maybe you could sing something in one of the school shows," Willow suggested encouragingly, but Amity seemed to balk at the idea.

"Oh, no way!" she shook her head firmly. "I couldn’t do that."

"Really?" Gus frowned. "But you do all those Abomination presentations."

"Yeah, but _singing…"_ Amity’s eyes widened at the idea. "That’s, like… personal."

"Alright," Luz allowed. "It’ll be something just for _me_." She put both arms around Amity and squeezed her tight, and they both giggled.

Then they paused with their faces a little too close together. Willow wondered if she’d have to avert her eyes, but the pair glanced at their tablemates and parted awkwardly.

"Gus, where’s the bathroom in this place?" Luz asked.

Gus pointed. "You see the pillar over there?"

"No."

"It’s the one by the… come on, I’ll show you."

Gus and Luz got up from the booth they were sat in and headed away across the restaurant floor. Left, alone, Amity and Willow both fidgeted with the tableware.

"Do you-"

"I think-"

They both stopped, laughing awkwardly at having interrupted each other.

"You seem a lot happier lately," Willow said.

Amity nodded. "I am. Luz is… well, you know how great she is."

Willow nodded too, and then smiled as a thought returned to her. "Remember when you had that crush on Grella Pince in our swim class?"

Amity let out an embarrassed laugh. "I kept pretending to be drowning near her," she recalled.

Willow giggled too, and the tension between them eased a little.

"Listen," Amity began. "I know this is weird. But I’m glad we can be…" she paused, and Willow could tell she was testing the waters to see if she could use the word 'friends'. "…that we can hang out again," she finished.

"Yeah, me too," Willow nodded. She took in the other girl’s shy smile, something she hadn’t seen in a long time, and considered an idea for a moment. "…We’re gonna go to a Jareth Glow-Worm concert at the weekend," she said. "You should come."

"Really?" Amity asked, surprised. "You sure?"

"Yeah," Willow smiled. "I’d like for you to come."

Amity’s own smile widened with surprised delight, and Willow felt more nostalgia at the sight of her old friend looking so genuinely happy after years of distant, cold looks.

"Gus is just signing the baby photo they’ve got of him on the wall," Luz said, returning to slip back into the seat next to Amity. "You two catching up?" she grinned.

"I was saying Amity should come with us this weekend," Willow said.

"Yessss!" Luz pumped her fist before reaching out to clutch both witchlings’ hands. "Oh, this is gonna be so _good_!"

Willow knew the human was incapable of keeping a secret from anyone, much less from her girlfriend. The pair must have decided not to suggest that Amity join them unless Willow said otherwise, and she was grateful for their tact. But then she saw Luz’s eyes widen a little, and turned to follow her gaze towards the carcass being carried towards their table.

"Are you gonna be okay, Luz?" Willow asked.

"Yeah," Luz nodded bravely. "I’ll just think of it as a lobster."

* * *

Willow was stood outside the Owl House tapping her foot on the ground. It had been nearly twenty minutes, and it was getting harder and harder to filter out the screeching voice of the house’s guardian.

" _And then I saw a bug_ ," Hooty was saying. " _And then I saw ANOTHER bug! It was a two-bug day, I sure love it when those come around!"_

Willow shook her head, trying to get back to the fuzzy place her brain had briefly reached where it wasn’t processing anything audible.

"Uh-huh?" Gus nodded politely. "Say, Hooty, do you know how long they’ll be?"

" _Luz made me promise not to go into her room anymore,"_ the owl face set into the front door replied. " _Apparently it’s a 'breach of privacy'"_ Willow heard a rhythmic chink of tiles on the roof above, and realised that Hooty was trying to do air quotes.

Gus gave Willow an appeasing smile. "They can’t be _much_ longer."

"Yeah, I guess," Willow sighed. She’d been looking forward to tonight’s performance at the Bonesborough Entertainment & Joust Arena for weeks. Jareth Glow-Worm was her absolute favourite musician and for him to do a live performance anywhere on the Isles was rare enough, and in her own town no less. But if they wanted to get good seats they would have to leave very soon.

Finally the front door swung open, cutting off Hooty’s story about a day when he saw THREE bugs, and Luz and Amity stepped out.

"Sorry Willow," Luz said with an apologetic smile. "We were just trying to get the right look for tonight."

Willow eyed the suit Luz was wearing, the black jacket thrown over her shoulder. It looked nice, and it paired well with Amity’s black dress and fuschia tights, but seemed simple enough to put on.

"Tried out a few options did you?" Willow asked, forcing a smile of her own.

Luz shrugged. "I’d already got it ready, but _this_ one insisted I try out the otter costume 'just in case'." She nudged Amity, who smiled bashfully.

"Oh I see," Gus grinned. "You were _kissing_ , weren’t you?" The younger boy snickered at what to him must be a truly scandalous image, but to Willow’s surprise Luz and Amity shifted awkwardly.

"Actually we haven’t…," Amity trailed off, blushing slightly at the admission.

Willow raised an eyebrow. The pair were already twining their fingers back together, and even if they hadn’t gotten as far as kissing yet she got the impression they’d been doing something pretty cuddly. But she quickly turned her thoughts to more pressing matters.

"We’d better get going," she said.

The group made their way through the woods towards the centre of Bonesborough, Willow and Gus walking ahead and Amity and Luz dawdling behind. Willow glanced back to see the couple swinging their joined hands as they walked; Luz whispered something in Amity’s ear which made the green-haired girl playfully smack the human on the arm with a grin. Willow looked ahead again – it was already dark, and not only would they have lost out on the best seats by now, they’d be lucky to get anything close enough to see even see Jareth properly. She tried to pick up the pace, but every time she looked back Luz and Amity had fallen further behind.

"Guys, we really need to get moving," she called out to them.

"Sorry!" Amity called back and the pair jogged forward a bit, their hands still clutching each other’s.

They reached the town’s main square, which hadn’t transformed into the Night Market yet and was still bustling with demons patronising various food vendors.

"Ooh look, they’ve got Not-Dogs!" Amity cried, tugging Luz back. "Buy me one?"

"Anything for you, my dearest darling," Luz said, bowing exaggeratedly before joining the queue in front of the stall.

Willow eyed the number of variously-shaped figures in front of Luz. "We have to get to the arena by 8," she warned.

"Oh, the first half hour’s always just the warm-up act," Amity said with a dismissive wave of her hand, before turning back to chatter to Luz again.

Gus eyed Willow’s impatient expression. "We could go on ahead and let them catch up?" he suggested.

"We wouldn’t get seats together." Willow began tapping her foot again as she watched the queue slowly move forward, and when the two girls finally returned with their food she turned on the spot and continued quickly on without another word.

The walls of the arena finally came into sight, and Willow felt a surge of frustration when she glanced back and saw Luz and Amity dawdling again.

"Come on, we’ll hold the door for them," she said.

She and Gus hurried on towards the entrance, and saw the demon Bouncer close the door behind the last few people entering the arena. They broke into a run.

"Wait!" Willow called out as they reached the entrance. "We’re here for the show!"

"Sorry kids, doors close at 8 exactly," the Bouncer said.

"But we got here _just_ after!" Gus protested.

"Jareth is very specific about timing," the Bouncer retorted. "Says it makes the experience more pure."

"I’ve got thirty snails on me," Willow said, desperately turning out her pockets. "If you could just-"

"The answer’s no, kids," the Bouncer cut her off firmly. "I’m not gonna let you undermine the integrity of Jareth’s performance. Best I can do is give you one of the bracelets from our sponsor."

He lifted Willow’s arm and put a loop of fabric over her hand, tightening the strap against her wrist, and then did the same to Gus. Willow turned her hand over, and saw that the red band was imprinted with the logo of the _Bleeding Hearts_ soap opera that she’d seen on her family’s crystal ball every now and again.

A loud cheer went up from inside the arena, and Willow could hear the music of Jareth’s most popular song sound out though the enchanted speaker system. The frustration inside her boiled over into anger, and she turned to stomp away from the Bouncer before the urge to summon a root from under the ground and strangle him became too great.

"I’m really sorry Willow," Gus said as he followed her. "I know you were looking forward to this."

Willow looked back at the way they’d come – Luz and Amity were nowhere to be seen.

"No," Willow snarled. "It’s not _you_ who’ll be sorry."

She stormed back down the street, glancing down each turning to see where they’d lost the other two girls. An angry tirade of words was already forming in her head, and she only hoped she would find her targets before she had the chance to reconsider them. But then she froze in the mouth of an alley.

Luz and Amity were stood in the alleyway, gently kissing, their barely nibbled-at Not Dogs lying forgotten on the ground.

Gus caught up to Willow and followed her gaze; he let out a quiet gasp and quickly put a hand over his eyes.

Willow felt her returning presence of mind put a stopper in the outburst she’d been gearing up for. As frustrated as she was with the pair, she couldn’t bring herself to interrupt their first kiss.

"Come on," she whispered sadly to Gus. "Let’s go."


	2. Chapter 2

Luz was still smiling when she woke up the next morning, and felt a warmth emanating from her chest that had nothing to do with the beams of sunlight blanketing her from her window. She rolled over in her sleeping bag and plucked her phone from where it had been lying on the lightning glyph she’d left out. The glyph had smouldered away into scraps of paper, and her phone was now fully charged again; Luz went straight the Boiling Isles’ _WhatZap_ messenger application that she’d had magically emulated onto her human device.

After her kissing session in the alley with Amity – _her girlfriend!_ – the previous night, they’d both made their way up to the arena only to be turned away by the door-demon. Luz had sent Willow a quick apology text to say they wouldn’t be able to join her and Gus inside, and they’d gone off to sample some more of the food vendors. But it wasn’t long before some of the more _unsavoury_ unsavoury characters of Bonesborough’s night life began to make an appearance, so Luz had chivalrously walked Amity home. It had taken them longer than perhaps it should have, and bursts of joy erupted in Luz’s heart at each memory of one of them stopping to pull the other into another kiss along the way. Even after they’d parted at the door to Blight Manor, Luz hadn’t spared a thought to any nocturnal beasts of the woods that might have been watching her as she made her own way home. All she’d been able to think about was the taste of Amity’s lips, and the smell of Amity’s perfume, and the soft touch of Amity’s hands, and everything was Amity Amity Amity.

Luz brought an arm between her head and her sleeping back and grinned at the sight of the messages the pair had sent each other the previous evening. Her last one hadn’t been responded to, and Luz remembered how heavy her own eyes had felt – the adorable mental image of the green-haired witchling nodding off with her scroll still in her hand made Luz bury her face in her bedding for a few seconds to hide her squeals of affection. Once she’d recovered, she typed out as soppy a good morning text as she could conjure up, and got up to go and find someone to hug.

Eda was up and about in the kitchen, and to Luz’s surprise she was wearing her high-necked, sleeveless red dress instead of the baggy sweater and long skirt she kept for Sundays and lazy evenings. Her back was turned to look in the refrigerator, and Luz pounced from behind to wrap her arms around her mentor.

"Oh, hey there you little snaggleback!" Eda turned and ruffled her apprentice’s hair. "How was your night?"

"It was good," Luz beamed.

"Yeah?" Eda grinned. "You and your girlfriend have a good time?"

"Yeah. We did." Luz wouldn’t have been able to stop smiling if she’d tried.

"Well I’m glad to see you got back in time," Eda said, returning to rifle through the fridge. "Hooty was under strict orders to eat you if you didn’t."

The threat of such an uncertain fate barely scratched the surface of Luz’s blissful mood. The fact was that Hooty had been asleep when she’d gotten back, but right now she didn’t care what he might have done to her if he hadn’t been. The recent incident with Screech may have forced her to put a brief pause on dates with (she took another breath) her _GIRLFRIEND_ , but it had also made her feel more affectionate towards the attention-seeking demon who guarded the house. So she reached past Eda to grab a bottle of juice without comment and went over to the table, twirling happily as she went.

King had his snout in his bowl of cereal and Luz sat next to him, planting a kiss on the little demon’s exposed skull before pouring a bowl of her own. King licked his lip as he finished, and clambered up Luz’s shoulder to cling to her scalp.

"When are you gonna grow this thing out?" he huffed, pulling disapprovingly at the short brown strands on her head. "Eda never cleans her hair, and I need somewhere to burrow."

"Hey, I work hard to keep this pixie cut nice and pretty!" Luz tutted as her new passenger kneaded at her head. She knew it was tufty, but once every couple of weeks she’d work at it with scissors in front of the bathroom mirror to make sure it was _evenly_ tufty.

"This _what?"_ Eda turned to fix the human girl with a surprised, almost appalled look.

"My hairstyle," Luz replied. "It’s called a pixie cut."

Eda raised her eyebrows. "I’ve seen what a pixie can do with a knife, and pretty it ain’t." She closed the fridge and started looking through cupboards. "Are we really out of Scream Cheese?"

"The noise was keeping me awake all night so I finished it off," King said, finally curling himself up on Luz’s head like a furry beret.

"Alright," Eda sighed, closing the cupboard door. "I’ll just some up on the way."

"Where are you off to?" Luz asked between spoonfuls of her cereal.

"I’m… going to see Lily," Eda said awkwardly.

"Oh." Luz put down her spoon. "Are you two talking again?"

Eda nodded. "All this, losing her job, having to deal with the curse, it’s knocked her for a loop. I’m gonna spend some time with her today, do supportive sister stuff."

"That’s good," Luz nodded.

"Yeah… wanna come?"

It sounded a little more like a request than an offer, and there was an unusually nervous look in Eda’s eye. The reclusive witch tended to avoid sociable situations at the best of times, and Luz wondered if her mentor might need some support of her own for such an awkward appointment.

"Sure," Luz nodded. "I’ll just go get dressed and-"

Her phone buzzed from where she’d placed it on the table and she snatched it up with lightning speed. A grin spread over her face as she read Amity’s reply and she started quickly typing out a response of her own.

King peered down at the small screen from his spot on Luz’s head. " _Ugh_ ," he gagged as he read the two girls’ conversation, and hopped down from his perch with a roll of his eyes.

Eda shook her head at the human’s dopey expression. "Are you gonna be this happy all the time now?"

"Yep!" Luz replied, not looking up from her phone.

"Well, I won’t stand for it," Eda said firmly. "You’d better keep a lid on all this mushy stuff before I tell you about how witches always sacrifice their first girlfriend to the moon."

* * *

The witch and her apprentice walked through the market, Eda swinging the small package wrapped in brown paper that she’d bought from a stall and Luz with her hands in her pockets, running a finger over the shard of Belos’s mask she kept there. Amity had put today aside as a study day so Luz was waiting for her next break to continue their texting, and the only thing that had managed to tear her thoughts away from the new, soft divet in her heart was the promise of finally getting to ask Lilith about the markings on the shard. When she’d shown the engraved letters 'em' to Eda, the only suggestion the grey-haired woman had given for what the full inscription could be was " _you gotta know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em_." Luz was hoping for a more educated guess from the ex-head of the Emperor’s Coven.

They spotted Lilith stood by the edge of an alley. The hood of her cloak was pulled up over her head, and she nodded discreetly at the approaching pair.

"Good, you’re here," she said quietly.

"Hey…" Eda returned, frowning at the other woman’s edginess. "I got you the Scream Cheese you said you couldn’t find."

"Thank you." Lilith took the package from Eda, and glanced around surreptitiously before beckoning them to follow her along the street. Luz and Eda shared a puzzled glance before heading after her.

Lilith led them away from the market to a slightly more industrial part of the town, and towards the door of a large, square brick building that looked to be the Bonesborough equivalent of a warehouse. She waited at the door for the other two to catch up, seeming uneasy, almost embarrassed.

"You wanted to know how I’d been coping?" she asked

"…Yes?" Eda responded carefully.

The elder sister nodded, gave one final furtive glance around, and stepped through the door into the warehouse. Eda gave Luz another frown before going in, and the human followed.

The walls and floor were painted black, but there were orbs of light hovering up in the corrugated arch of the ceiling. Wires were strewn over the floor and Luz had to step over them as she made her way further into the space, although she couldn’t fully see what they were connected to – her eyes were quickly drawn to the unexpected sight assembled at the far end of the large room. There was a drum kit, at which a green-skinned, lumpy-faced man in the brown cloak of a Demon Hunter was sat. There were also stands for other musical instruments akin to guitars, except they were carved from bone and the strings looked like they might have been some visceral part of a living creature once. Scattered about the space were a few large black boxes with sharp-fanged mouths like the school lockers at Hexside had.

Lilith stopped in front of the musical debris and turned around to her guests. "This is my band," she said. There was a slightly beseeching look in her eye, as if hoping for her sister’s approval.

"Uh-huh?" Eda nodded encouragingly, managing to hide her surprise as far as Luz could tell. "Th-These your new friends?"

"Yes," Lilith nodded with some relief, and gestured over to the Demon Hunter at the drum kit. "I ran into Tom in the market. We recognised each other from the orchard and got talking about career changes."

"Hi!" Tom waved with a smile, and pointed with recognition at Luz. "Remember me? I pushed you off a cliff!"

"Yeah, you did," Luz nodded politely. She glanced away from his friendly smile to the nearest object to hand, reaching out to awkwardly prod the upright guitar next to her. But then she flinched back in surprise as the guitar moved, and a diminutive figure popped their head out from the other side.

"We’re the hottest, up-and-comingest wock-and-woll band on the Boiwing Iyws!" the little creature said proudly. Her round white head made up her entire body, and was topped by a mop of red hair. Her eyes were huge and bulbous, and her large protruding nose looked like it might unbalance her from her short spindly limbs at any moment.

"Oh, I know you too!" Luz raised her eyebrows. "You helped me and King escape from that lizard publisher guy! You taking a break from writing?"

"Yes," Tiny Nose nodded sadly. "My witewawy pursuits are behind me. My stowy got widiculed by weviewers, and I got dwopped fwom my contwact." She gave a grouchy huff. "Guess that pubwisher wasn’t a good judge of tawent after aw."

"I’m sorry." Luz couldn’t help feeling some relief – she and King had only narrowly escaped being turned into tiny cubes by Piniet, and more than once she’d wondered if the same had happened to their inadvertent rescuer. "I hope he doesn’t go after anyone else," she added.

"Oh, that wizard won’t be bothewing anyone anymore…" Tiny Nose said. Luz widened her eyes at the meaningful look on the little walking face, who then scuttled away with her guitar before she could be questioned any further.

"The three of us are all struggling with a transition of one form or another," Lilith said, coming over; Luz noticed for the first time that the steel she was used to seeing in the dark-haired woman’s gaze wasn’t there. "We’ve been playing together for a little while," Lilith continued, "letting out our emotions in our music…and we’ve come up a few songs." She reached up to sweep a lock of hair behind her ear, directing an expectant look at her sister.

"Well, we’d love to hear them," Eda said, taking the hint.

Lilith smiled, a little more nervously than Luz would ever have expected from the dignified woman. She took her cloak off from over her long, dark dress and turned to pick up another one of the guitars.

Luz glanced at Eda, stifling a giggle, but Eda gave a small, serious shake of her head.

" _I think she needs this right now,"_ the witch said quietly.

Luz straightened her face, and she and Eda took seats on a couple of nearby crates while the three musicians took their positions, Tiny Nose clambering up on a stepladder to reach a microphone hovering above its stand.

"WE ARE UNTITWED DEMON PWOJECT!" she shouted out to the room, grappling at the guitar that was oversized in her tiny arms. "ONE, TWO, THWEE, FOUR!"

The main impression Luz got from the music was that it was loud. Tom hammered furiously at the drum kit, and the toothy maws of the speaker-boxes roared out the discordant tones Lilith and Tiny Nose were tearing from their instruments. Tiny Nose was managing quite impressively considering her instrument was clearly designed for someone of much taller stature, and she was somehow headbanging without the advantage of a neck. Lilith’s pale face was twisted into an intense expression, her long, dark hair and dress rippling rhythmically with her arms as she played, making for a striking, gothic image. Occasionally their voices sounded out above the cacophony, and judging by their faces whatever they were singing about came from a troubled, angry place. Luz distinctly heard the word 'sister' come from Lilith’s mouth a couple of times, and shot a furtive look at Eda – the grey-haired woman was looking on with determined supportiveness.

The song eventually came to an end after a final strike from the guitar by Lilith and the dark-haired witch kept her eyes closed as the final echoes faded, relishing the last vapours of the angst. But when she opened her eyes that nervous smile had returned to her face.

"…It sounds like you put a lot of feeling into that," Eda said diplomatically, but the recognition was enough to widen Lilith’s smile into a slightly breathless beam.

"All of our songs are based on our twue feewings," Tiny Nose said, before gearing up her guitar to begin again. "This next one’s cawwed _All Snakes Must Die!"_

* * *

After the complete set was finished, Luz had hung back while Lilith let Eda play around on another one of the guitars. The two Clawthorne sisters were plucking out a tune together while Tiny Nose had gotten in a debate with Tom over who was drowning out who. Luz had managed to surreptitiously film some of the performance on her phone to drop in her group chat with Amity, Willow and Gus. The chat was oddly quiet today; only Amity had responded to the video of her old mentor, with a flurry of question marks. Finally Lilith stepped aside to adjust the placement of one of the speakers while Eda was retuning her instrument to her taste, and Luz approached the dark-haired witch.

"Hi, Lilith," she ventured.

"Oh. Hello, Luz," Lilith replied, a little awkwardly. The last time the pair had spent any real time together was during an intense training duel at the Hexside Grudgby field, and its escalation had been what re-opened the rift between the witch and her sister.

"You looked really cool while you were playing," Luz said. "Back home you’d get a big goth following."

"Thank you," Lilith smiled, but then averted her eyes. "Luz… I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few weeks thinking about how I’ve behaved, and Eda has helped me to see that how I treated you was… well, it was cruel." The pale woman kept her eyes on the floor, and Luz could see genuine guilt in them. "Not only did I use you as bait and deliberately put you in danger, but when I tried to train you afterwards I once again treated you like a tool. I am sorry for that." Lilith glanced up towards the other two members of her band, who were now striking up a rhythm with Eda. "Losing my position has made me question a lot, and I am starting to see that true belonging is not about covens." She finally met Luz’s eyes, and the human could tell it was an effort for the witch not to look away in shame. "I am sorry for saying you do not belong in our world. You have the makings of a gifted, powerful witch, and I look forward to seeing all the incredible things you will achieve. I hope to help you, if I can."

Luz felt a thrash of conflicting emotions at the pale woman’s apology. Something was welling in her throat at the supportive words, but she still remembered how terrified she’d been when Lilith had thrown her into the deadly pit in front of the Emperor’s castle. However, she was reminded of the bigger things at stake.

"Thank you," she said, and reached into her pocket to pull out the sliver of golden metal from inside. "Maybe you can start by looking at this piece of Belos’s mask."

Lilith reached out to take the object from Luz’s fingers. She turned it over to the side where the two, small letters were engraved, and peered at them. Her brow creased, and she glanced at the others; Luz followed the woman’s gaze over to Eda, who was now strumming out a punky-sounding tune.

"Luz," Lilith said, quietly. "I need to know if you can keep a secret."

Luz tensed. There had been too many painful revelations lately, she didn’t want to start keeping things from her mentor. But she was finally about to get some answers. She swallowed and nodded, and Lilith gave one more furtive look at Eda.

And then she reached into the neckline of her dress and pulled out a pair of round spectacles.

 _"Oh,"_ Luz said, relaxing a little as Lilith affixed the glasses to her face with a sigh.

"The curse has weakened my magic, so I’ve had to go back to using these," she explained.

"No, they suit you," Luz said. "In fact…"

"What?" Lilith frowned behind the large, circular frames, and Luz cast her eye over the streak of grey hair that now swept back from the pale woman’s temple.

"It’s just… you’re giving off some _strong_ grandma vibes."

Lilith’s eyes narrowed at the human, and she returned her eyes to the metal sliver in her hand with a huff. "E M," she read out loud, and lifted her eyes to stare ahead in thought. "Written on the inside of his mask…"

Luz’s heart sank at the confused look on the dark-haired witch’s face.

"I’m sorry," Lilith shook her head. "I don’t know what this could mean. It may be part of some protective incantation, but we would need to see how Belos has been affected before knowing more."

"Okay," Luz sighed, resigning herself back to her dead end.

"…But there is one other thing I need to tell you about."

Luz felt anticipation rise again as Lilith turned to fully face her, putting a hand on the human’s shoulder.

"Belos calls it The Day Of Unity," she began. "He would not say exactly when it was or what his plans for it are, but the reason he wanted Edalyn was because he was recruiting all covenless witches. Any who are not bound to a coven will face his punishment when the day comes. And it is coming soon."

Luz’s stomach twisted. The idea of restrictive tracks and covens had always seemed off-putting to her, despite assurances from Willow, Amity and Gus that the system was for the good of all witches. And now the threat of punishment for not adhering to the established structure made the Emperor’s regime seem even more fascistic.

"What do we do?" she asked, but Lilith could only give her an uncertain look in reply.

"Hey, Lily!"

Lilith quickly snatched the glasses from her face, blushing slightly. "Y-Yes, Edalyn?" she called over to her sister.

"These two are trying to tell me that booking a gig makes you too mainstream!"

Lilith sighed. "Alright, give me a Scalp’s Minute." She held out the metal sliver to Luz, who took it back. "We _will_ figure out a plan," the witch promised, before leaving the human to go and settle the issue.


	3. Chapter 3

It felt like such a long time since Willow last only had Gus for company at lunch. The pair had been friends since before Luz had arrived on the Boiling Isles, and Willow remembered how shy the younger boy had been when he’d first been moved up to her year (although he’d quickly opened up in an eager ramble when she’d gotten him onto the subject of humans). But even though Willow was still glad of Gus’s friendship, the two of them sat together on their own was bringing back that feeling of isolation from her peers she used to have.

"Heya friends!" Luz said as she and Amity slipped into the other seats on the cafeteria table. Willow’s eyes narrowed slightly at their breathless smiles, and at the patches of Amity’s pale foundation that hadn’t been fully wiped off Luz’s cheeks.

"Sorry, we’re late," Amity said. "We got… caught up."

"Sure," Willow said, grimly noting how the giggly couple hadn’t noticed her terse tone.

"How was the show the other night?" Luz asked.

"Actually-" Gus began.

"It was great!" Willow cut him off. "Jareth did all the hits, I’m sorry you missed it."

"We are too," Amity said and Willow smiled obligingly, careful not to look over at Gus’s perplexed expression.

"Did they broadcast it?" Luz asked. "Maybe we can get a Crystal Ball recording."

"Th-They don’t show them on CB," Gus replied, shooting a frown at Willow who was still firmly avoiding eye contact with him.

Luz shook her head disapprovingly. "It’s so exclusionary. It cuts out all the people who aren’t able to go out and see a show when it would be so easy to film it and sell the video! They’d probably make MORE money from-"

"Hey guys."

They looked up at the witchling who was stood by their table. She was a multi-tracker, her sleeves the blue of the Healing Track and with Beast-Keeping-orange leggings. There were tears in her uniform, and the group frowned at the girl’s familiar-looking bangs, spiked hairband and fish-hook earring – she was dressed exactly like Viney. But her skin was blue, she had pale horns curling around her temples, and was generally a different person in every way.

"You all have a good weekend?" The unfamiliar girl smiled at Luz. "We should do another karaoke night sometime! Have an _Uptown Girl_ encore."

The other teenagers stared blankly at the expectant-looking newcomer.

"…Viney?" Luz asked, confused.

"That’s my name, use it responsibly," the stranger confirmed, winking an eye that was so far from Viney’s usual green that most would call it brown.

"D-Did you do a spell to make your face different?" Amity frowned, circling a finger at her own.

"What do you mean?"

Amity summoned a small compact mirror and flipped it open to show the other girl her reflection. 'Viney' peered at it for a moment before giving Amity a confused smile.

"This is the same face I’ve always had." She nudged Willow. "Sounds like someone’s got Monday brain this morning, am I right?"

"There you are!"

They all turned to see Emira heading over, and the witchling with the thick green braid wrapped her arms around the waist of the girl who looked absolutely nothing like her girlfriend.

"You need to stop hiding from me, Vi," Emira said with a grin.

"Well, then I wouldn’t get to enjoy you chasing after me," the new girl grinned back, and they kissed.

The group at the table shared confounded looks. "Em, is this a prank or something?" Amity asked.

"Is what a prank?" Emira asked, one arm still wound around her new partner’s waist.

"That’s not Viney," Amity said.

The two standing witchlings shared a frown. "It _is_ Viney," Emira returned definitively. ‘And on a completely unrelated note, recasting is a very common practice and drawing attention to it breaks immersion.’

Emira waited to see if anyone would break the dumbfounded silence, and when no-one did she turned back to her substituted girlfriend. "Time for lunch?"

"Sure," Not-Viney said, and the pair walked off holding hands. The others watched them approach the table where Jerbo and Barcus were sat, and the two boys looked up.

"Viney!" they heard Jerbo call out with cheerful recognition while Barcus let out a happy little howl. Viney let go of Emira’s hands to stick her thumbs out at her sides with an "Ayyy!"

Luz, Amity, Willow and Gus spun back to face each other, leaning over the table to exchanged frantic whispers.

" _Who was that?"_

_"I have no idea!"_

_"Did Emira say 'recasting'?"_

_"Yeah!"_

_"Why would she say that?!"_

_"Did she mean like when a TV show changes the actor who plays someone?"_

_"What’s TV?"_

_"No, Luz is right, it’s like… someone else is Viney now."_

They peered over at the other table again, where Emira and the new Viney were now sat feeding each other fries.

"So it’s like a show?" Luz asked as they all turned back. "But we’re not…unless…" She suddenly gripped the table and looked up at the ceiling. "Are we under a dome? Has this been a dome situation the whole time?!"

"No, there’s no dome," Amity reassured the human. "But Em was talking like this is a show, with actors, and sets, and that thing where they go off and talk to the camera."

Gus rolled his eyes. "I don’t like it when shows keep doing that. It makes a mockery of real journalism."

* * *

"Seriously," Gus was saying from his position stood alone a short distance away from the cafeteria table. "It’s such an overused trope. I get that it was groundbreaking when it started, but if _everyone_ does it then-"

"Gus?"

The boy stopped, and glanced back at the table behind him. Luz and Amity were still whispering to each other, but Willow had looked over at him with confusion. He looked forward again to his interviewer – but there wasn’t one.

"Wait…" Gus frowned. "I was just sat back there, how did I get-"

* * *

"-over here? AHH!" Gus yelped in fright as he found himself sat back at the cafeteria table again. "W-What just happened?" he asked, his bottom lip quivering.

"I don’t know…" Luz said, now looking just as confused. "You were gone for a second, but it felt normal, and… jeez, I need some Apple Blood."

"Ooh, is that the new _Diet_ Apple Blood?" Willow asked with interest.

"‘Yes!" Luz said, holding up the carton in her hand to clearly show its logo. "It has the same great taste as regular Apple Blood with none of the calories, and is available in all good-"

Luz stopped her apparently involuntary flow of praise. She stared at the item in her hand for a second before dropping it like it had scalded her.

" _Amity I’m scared_ ," she said quietly, turning to her girlfriend with wide eyes.

"This must be a spell," Willow said. "Someone’s making everything like a Crystal Ball show."

"Okay..." Amity said nervously. "So apart from recasting, cutaways and product placement, what else might happen?"

"Well, we’re in a school scene," Luz said. "And usually in those when the bell rings we go on to something else."

"The bell’s not due to ring for another ten minutes though," Willow pointed out.

They all glanced around and waited in silence for a few seconds.

"…Has anyone got anything else to say?" Luz asked.

"No," Gus replied. "I think we've covered all the relevant information that-"

The scream of the school bell rang out.

* * *

Gus blinked. He was stood by his locker, but he didn’t remember getting there. He could swear he was just sat in the cafeteria with his friends…

"Hey there, mister _Ex-President_ ," a smug, weedy voice sounded from behind him. Gus was drawn out of his thoughts about the strange happenings he’d been experiencing and scowled at the familiar sound, turning around to face the other student who’d addressed him.

"Hello Mattholomule," he replied tersely.

The skinny, snivelley boy was wearing a crooked smirk that showed off his chipped tooth. "Just wanted to let you know that even with you leaving, the H.A.S has gone up to ten members as of today," he bragged. "How many did you peak at when _you_ were in charge? Four?"

"Five," Gus retorted. "I got you to join, didn’t I?"

Mattholomule fribbered his lips dismissively. "Sure, but now that I’m running things, it’s actually fun. It’s not just sitting around staring at a bunch of artefacts anymore. We’ve got music, snacks, crystal ball games, we get more people wanting to join every day!"

"And how much time do you spend talking about humans?" Gus asked.

"Oh, they come up every now and again," Mattholomule said with a vague wave of his hand.

Gus’s scowl hardened. The _Human Appreciation Society_ had been his passion project, and seeing it twisted out of the shape he’d carefully moulded it into was making him hot with anger.

"Why do you even want to run a human club?" he asked angrily.

Mattholomule chuckled. "I told you before, I don’t! I want _power_ , and I want _drama_!"

"Well, you’ve got power now," Gus glowered. "But leave me out of your drama." He turned to walk away, but the other boy hurried round to block his path.

"Admit it!" Mattholomule demanded. "I’m a better president than you ever were!"

"Leave me alone!" Gus yelled, trying to dodge past the weaving obstacle, but his successor kept matching his every move. Gus’s anger boiled over and he shoved the other boy away – the frail-framed student fell to the floor with surprised cry.

And suddenly they weren’t in the school corridor anymore. Loud cheers sounded out from all directions, and Gus looked around; he was stood on a wide platform surrounded by a low, elastic-wire fence. The platform was illuminated by bright lighting, making everything outside the fence’s perimeter hidden in shadow. But Gus could make out the frantic waving of a crowd in the gloom, their baying insistent and enthusiastic.

He looked back to Mattholomule, and was surprised to see that the other boy’s clothes had changed – he was wearing a sparkly red-and-blue waistcoat with matching trousers and top hat, and had suddenly grown a twirling beard on his chin. He looked like the figure on the old-fashioned human military recruitment posters Gus had seen before. Mattholomule got to his feet and looked down at his new outfit, putting hand to his new facial hair with confusion.

" _And that’s the first blow!"_ a voice called out, sounding amplified and echoey. " _It’s a knockdown, but not a knockout. He’ll have to do better than that to best The Incumbent!"_

A cheering roar of support rose from the crowd, and Mattholomule looked around with surprise. Then he began to smirk again as he realised the cheers were for him, and raised his arms to rile the crowd up further. Whatever mystery behind what was going on was apparently no match for the promise of attention in the skinny boy’s mind.

Gus squinted upwards through the lights, and saw a viewing box looking down over the platform. Principal Bump was stood behind the window holding a microphone.

" _This match had just begun!_ ’ Bump cried. ‘ _It could go either way, and we might still see a return to the throne from The Abdicator!"_

The crowd’s cheers suddenly turned to loud boos, and a few small objects were hurled over the fence at Gus. He raised his arms to defend himself against the barrage, but one piece of ammo knocked something off his head and he looked down at it – it was a rusted crown that was almost split in half, barely hanging together at the base. He realised he was wearing a grimy, tattered red cloak; the furry lining had once been white with black spots, but was now a dirty brown. He looked around at the objects that were landing on the platform around him and felt more confusion as he identified, pens, notebooks, training wands, school supplies of all kinds. He put a hand to his brow and peered out past the fence, and although he couldn’t make out any faces, he could see the brightly coloured sleeves and dark cowls of Hexside students.

Gus turned back to Mattholomule, who was giving him an aggressive grin and pounding a fist into the palm of his other hand. Gus balked and glanced all around, but their platform was fully surrounded by the insistently howling crowd. Mattholomule let out a high-pitched battle cry and ran forward; with nowhere to escape to, Gus ran forward, yelling too.

" _There they go!"_ Bump commentated. " _These two featherweights are… just trying so hard to hit each other with really ANY force at all. The Abdicator is trying for the piledriver… nope, he can’t lift him, and The Incumbent seems to be struggling to even push himself back up off the floor. There’s clearly animosity between these two contenders but they’re… they’re both so small_."

Gus dodged out of the way of Mattholomule’s next lunge, and stumbled round to face him. Both scrawny boys were already panting heavily, exhausted by the physical exertion. Mattholomule lumbered forward and grabbed Gus by the furred lining of his cloak – Gus weakly raised a hand and wiped it across the other witchling’s face in an attempt at a slap, and Mattholomule leant back and shoved with as much of his body weight as he could. The momentum made Gus wander backwards until he collapsed against the thick elastic wires that made up the platform’s fence, and he slid down to sit on the floor. He raised his head to see Mattholomule leaning forward on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"Gus!"

Gus heard a familiar voice cut through the noise and turned his head to squint between the wires – Willow was pushing her way through the throng of other students who were all still shouting for blood, their enthusiasm unwavering.

"Willow!" Gus called back, and turned himself around as she reached the platform’s perimeter.

"What’s going on?" Willow asked, reaching through the wires to grab his arm.

"I don’t know!" Gus replied. "We just turned up in this ring, and Principal Bump is making us fight each other, and today’s just been so _weird_!"

Willow nodded. "I know! I keep seeing things like this!" She looked around at the other students who hadn’t let up their cries. "No-one else is acting like there’s anything wrong except for the two…of us…"

Gus followed Willow’s gaze to where she was staring at their clutched arms; they were still wearing the red bracelets they’d gotten from the Arena.

"Couldn’t you take yours off either?" Willow asked.

"No," Gus shook his head. "No matter what I did, it wouldn’t-"

" _And he’s stopped hyperventilating!"_ Bump’s voice rang out and the crowd erupted into louder cheers. Gus turned to see Mattholomule stood with his arms raised victoriously.

Gus looked down at his wrist and turned it over. " _Bleeding Hearts_ ," he read the words embroidered onto the fabric out loud. "That’s that soap opera, right?"

"Yeah, it’s a really dramatic show," Willow nodded. Gus looked back at Mattholomule, who now was showboating by gesturing to different sections of the crowd to make the cheers rise.

" _Drama_ …" Gus muttered. Then, after a few more seconds’ thought, he turned back to Willow. "I know what to do!" he said, and got to his feet.

Mattholomule turned back and grinned at the sight of Gus facing him again. He swept his hat off, threw it into the crowd theatrically, and started to run at his adversary. But the other witchling stood his ground, waiting until Mattholomule was only feet away before making his move.

"I forgive you!" Gus called out.

Mattholomule skidded to a halt. The crowd’s cheers faded down to a confused murmur, and the sparklingly-dressed boy gave his opponent a surprised frown.

"I forgive you," Gus repeated, looking firmly into the other witchling’s eyes. "We don’t have to fight anymore."

Mattholomule glanced around nervously, now having lost control of the situation.

"… _Well that was anticlimactic,"_ Bump’s voice came through again. " _Guess we can call that a forfeit_."

An odd rumbling, humming sound echoed all around, and both boys stumbled a little as the platform shook. Then there was a magical flash of light, and they both tumbled to the floor –

– of the school corridor. Gus sat up and looked around; they were surrounded by a crowd of students who were glancing about with confused expressions on their faces as if just having been awoken from a trance. Principal Bump was stood among them next to Emira and New Viney, still holding a microphone.

"Um…" he began, glancing around. "…was there a fight going on just now?"

Gus heard hurried footsteps and turned to see Willow kneel down next to him. "Are you okay?" she asked.

He nodded, and looked over to where Mattholomule was picking himself up off the floor, now back in his Construction-Track Hexside uniform and baby-smooth chin.

"What happened…?" the skinny boy was asking. He met Gus’s eyes and pointed victoriously at him. "Y-You gave up! That means I win!" He staggered to his feet, still a little out of breath, and looked around expectantly at the crowd of students. But they all still seemed confused, as if unsure why they would have been cheering for him in the first place.

"Hey, look!" Willow pointed down to Gus’s wrist, and when he glanced at his bracelet he saw it was disintegrating away into scraps of red fabric. Then the scraps flew up on a magical gust of wind, swarming up into the empty space the students had all circled round. The pieces of fabric arranged themselves into letters until they had formed the _Bleeding Hearts_ logo, and a voice sounded out from some magical, invisible source.

" _We hope you’ve enjoyed this taste of the kind of drama you can expect from the revival of Bleeding Hearts!"_ the voice called out. " _Tune in this Saturday for the first episode of the new season!"_

The logo smouldered away into smoke. One of the scraps floated towards the crowd and flittered past Not-Viney’s head; her face sparkled, her horns shrinking away and her skin turning from blue back to a beigey-pink, and suddenly she was Viney again.

Emira blinked, and put her hands on her girlfriend’s cheeks. "V-Viney?"

"Yeah?" Viney frowned as much as she could within the firm grip on her face.

Emira stared at the other girl for a couple more seconds before pulling her into a hug.

"What is it?" Viney asked.

"I think I… missed you?" Emira replied bewilderedly. The pair let go of each other and headed off with the other gathered students, who were muttering excitedly about the show they’d just seen advertised.

"Hey! Wait!" Mattholomule called out to them to no avail. "I won! I was the winner! Cheer for me!"

Willow helped Gus up from the floor. "That’s a pretty aggressive marketing campaign," she said.

Gus nodded, looking down at his now-bare wrist. "They’re taking the real drama in people’s lives and turning it into…whatever that was." He looked over at Willow’s hand – her own bracelet was still firmly attached to it.

She gave him a wary look. "Does that mean that’s gonna happen to me?" she asked anxiously.

Gus frowned. "You don’t have drama with anyone though. Boscha’s stayed away from you ever since you beat her at Grudgby, and you get on with everyone else, so who-"

"GUS!"

They both turned towards the sound of the cry and saw Luz and Amity approaching. Luz ran forward and gripped Gus firmly by the shoulders.

"Someone was saying you were in a _fight?!"_ the human said. "Are you okay?"

Amity reached them, and Gus looked from the newly-arrived green-haired girl to Willow – the dark-haired witchling was looking suddenly tense, and Gus spotted a spark fly from her bracelet. 

An anvil fell from out of thin air onto Mattholomule, who had been limping past, and he gave a low groan of pain from the floor.

"…Uh-oh," Gus said quietly.


	4. Chapter 4

"So the wristbands are causing the weird stuff to happen," Luz recapped, "and it won’t stop until Willow has sorted out her drama?"

"That’s right," Gus nodded. "And the only drama she still has is with…"

They all glanced awkwardly over at Amity, who was still sat at her desk. Apart from the four of them the classroom was deserted now that the final lesson of the day had ended. Amity looked up anxiously, and she and Willow exchanged a protracted, uneasy glance.

"Willow?" Luz asked. "Are you still mad with Amity about…everything?"

Willow sighed. "…I guess," she admitted.

Luz looked between the two other girls. "It sounds like you two still have stuff to work through."

"And if they don’t, then…" Guz winced at the memory of Mattholomule’s pained whimpers as he’d been carried away to have his anvil-wounds treated at the Healer’s office. "…we’d better start wearing helmets."

The others looked to Willow with nervous anticipation, and the dark-haired witchling chewed her lip. "I don’t want anyone to get hurt… but it’s complicated. It’s the kind of thing that takes a lot of work to sort out."

A strange tension filled the room, intensifying the silence between the group.

"Okay."

They looked back over at Amity, who had stood from her seat with a determined look in her eye. "I’ll do anything it takes. Whatever you need, Willow."

Willow looked at her old friend with surprise, and the two shared something that was almost a smile.

Luz pounded her fist into her other hand. "Well, if the bracelet wants TV-level drama, let’s fight meta with meta and do a TV-level reconciliation." She rubbed her hands together. "It’s time to deploy the patented Luz Noceda shenanigan once more." Her eyes lit up. " _Shenan-again!"_ Then she caught sight of the look the others were giving her. "Sorry. I’m not having fun."

* * *

"How are they looking?" Gus asked.

"Not very reconciley," Luz said, letting go of the brim of her cap that she’d been pulling forward to squint out over the lake. She lifted the large handled cone in her hand to her mouth. "HOW’S IT GOING?" she called across the lake.

"I DON’T THINK IT’S WORKING!" Amity called back. "CAN WE COME BACK YET?"

"NOT UNTIL YOU’VE HAD A NOSTALGIC REALISATION!" Luz replied. "THINK BACK TO THE LAST TIME THE TWO OF YOU WERE ICE-SURFING ON LAKE LACUNA!"

"WE WERE MUCH SMALLER THEN!" Amity had to shift her weight on the little ice block she was standing on, and it tilted. Willow threw her hands out from where she was stood on the other side of the block and Amity quickly grabbed them, stopping the other girl from falling toward her. But once they’d regained their balance they let go of each other, returning to their tense-looking stances.

"Hmmm…" Luz lowered the makeshift megaphone and tapped her chin. "Maybe it needs to be a bottle episode. The Giant across the forest from us might have one big enough to put them in."

"I don’t think we can force them to be friends again," Gus said warily.

"No-one’s _forcing_ them!" Luz said, a little too insistently. "We’re just creating the right atmosphere so they can work things out. Now, have you got it ready?"

"Yeah," Gus sighed reluctantly.

"Good," Luz nodded. "The third-act peril is always what clinches it."

Gus hummed doubtfully, but started subtly twirling his fingers around each other. The ice block they were watching rocked suddenly in the water.

"THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE LAKE!" Willow called out.

"USE IT!" Luz instructed through the cone. The block rocked again, and an arching, scaly back breached the water nearby, making both precarious girls flinch away. The creature sank again in line with the movements of Gus’s hands.

"I REALLY THINK WE SHOULD COME BACK NOW!" Amity insisted.

"ONE OF YOU CAN SAVE THE OTHER!" Luz suggested. "TRY AND MAKE IT LIFE-THREATENING IF YOU CAN!"

" _LUZ, I AM YOUR GIRLFRIEND!!"_

The pair stood on the lake’s bank watched the two girls standing on the ice block, who had now turned to look anxiously over either side. Gus twisted his fingers, and the head of the large sea-serpent illusion he was casting rose up from the water in front of Amity. She yelped and stumbled back, accidentally knocking against Willow – Luz and Gus winced as the dark-haired witchling toppled into the water.

Amity turned at the sound of the splash and gasped in horror. "Willow, I’m SO sorry!"

Gus sighed again and dropped his hands; the serpent in the water dissipated into smoke. He and Luz watched Willow swim back to shore and helped her clamber out of the water.

"Well I have some notes," Luz began against her friend’s dripping glare. "You should try opening up, bring out the real core of the problem." She turned as Amity hopped ashore, having jetted the ice block across the lake with a magically-summoned gust of wind. The human took hold of the green-haired witchling’s shoulders and moved her into place in front of Willow. "What is it about Amity that _really_ grinds your gears? Come on, no wrong answers."

"Is this helpful?" Amity asked, uncomfortably.

"Amity, please, I’m working," Luz scolded.

Willow bunched up her sodden hair to wring out the water. "Perhaps we should just stay away from each other for now." She made eye contact with Amity again; the other witchling looked pained, and Willow averted her eyes again guiltily. "Maybe when _Bleeding Hearts_ is back on they won’t need to advertise it anymore and the bracelet will go away."

"Do we know that though?" Gus asked. "Are you sure there’s not _something you could bring up_ that would help things move along?" he added pointedly.

But Willow shot him a warning glower. "I don’t have anything that would help us get along more smoothly," she replied.

"We might need more experienced eyes on this," Amity suggested, turning back to her girlfriend. But Luz was looking back at the water thoughtfully.

"Maybe if we put the bottle on the _bottom_ of the lake…" the human muttered.

" _Luz."_

"Fine," Luz huffed, taking off her cap. "We’ll ask Eda."

* * *

The walk to the Owl House was quiet, although Willow could tell Luz was silently coming up with more plans for some other dramatic setup. Amity glanced back at her uncertainly, and Willow broke the eye contact.

" _You have to tell them about the concert,"_ Gus whispered from his position walking next to her.

" _We’re trying to make things better, not worse_ ," Willow whispered back.

" _It’s clearly part of what’s going on."_ Gus looked nervously upwards. " _And I don’t want to get squashed by anything comically heavy!"_

 _"Nothing’s happened since we left Hexside."_ Willow pushed the bracelet further up her arm and pulled her sleeve down over it, taking a steady breath. "I _just have to control my thoughts, and not give it any drama to feed on."_

They approached the door to the Owl House.

"Hey Hooty," Luz greeted the house demon. "Is Eda home?"

 _"She sure is!"_ Hooty replied cheerily. " _She and Lilith are having a nice catch up."_

"Uh-oh." Willow glanced down at her arm nervously. "Is that gonna be a problem?"

"Nah, they’ve sorted out all their drama now," Luz said as she turned the handle.

But she opened the door onto pandemonium. The living room had been turned into what looked like a large studio with three armchairs set up on one side and tiered rows of seats opposite. The rows of seats were filled with King’s army of stuffed animals, but the normally unmoving toys were now sat up and shouting in a cacophony of squeaky voices, waving their fluffy little arms in the air. Their energy was directed towards the figures in the armchairs – Eda and Lilith were sat on the left- and right-most chairs, and Luz could hear the pair’s angry voices amongst the loud babble as the two women shouted at each other.

The newcomers stood just inside the doorway, staring in surprise at the changed interior of the house. Then Luz’s eye was drawn to the small, beige rabbit that was toddling towards them, a headset clamped over the sides of its head and a clipboard clutched in its paw. The rabbit beckoned to them, and after exchanging a glance the teenagers followed it over to a gap in the front row of seats. They squeezed themselves in between the squeaking toys, and when they looked forward they saw that King was seated between Eda and Lilith, his short legs not even reaching his chair’s front edge.

"ALL RIGHT!" he called out, and the audience’s voices began to quieten until only Eda and Lilith’s bickering could be heard.

"-stubborn, disintegrating hag!" Lilith was shouting.

"-callous, greasy-haired fascist!" Eda was yelling back.

"Okay, okay!" King waved the pair down and they stopped their respective onslaughts, fixing each other with silent glares. "I love your energy," the little demon between them continued, "but we’ve got to spread it out so we don’t end up falling flat. Francois, can we have the next question please?"

The rabbit who had guided the newcomers to their seats nodded and took a toy penguin by its flipper, leading it forward from where it had been sat.

" _This is weird,"_ Willow whispered to Luz.

" _I know,"_ Luz replied quietly, her eyes still on Francois. " _The headset should be on his ears, he can’t hear anything if it’s just on the sides of his head."_

Francois brought the penguin over to a microphone that was set up a little way forward on a tiny stand, and the toy bird brought its beak to it.

"So, um, my question’s for Lilith," the penguin began in a shy voice. "Um…what’s it like knowing that you ruined your sister’s life?"

The crowed clamoured again and Eda gestured to the bird in vindication, but Lilith scoffed indignantly and folded her arms.

"Ruined her _whole life!"_ King tutted, obviously enjoying himself. "That’s quite an accusation. What do you have to say to _that_ , Lilith?"

"Even if I did, it’s not like you were going to do anything with it anyway," the dark haired woman huffed, and the audience erupted into loud boos.

"I was the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles even with YOUR curse!" Eda retorted. "Who knows what I might have achieved without it?"

"You always wasted your talent!" Lilith spat back. "You were given all the best opportunities, but you never took them seriously!"

"Oh, all the opportunities _you_ should have gotten, is that what you’re saying?" Eda asked accusingly. "Maybe the teachers at Hexside just didn’t like your big moon face."

Lilith gave a loud, offended gasp and the crowd of stuffed animals let out whoops and claps.

"Hang on a minute," King said. "We should stick to solid verifiable facts here. And in order to do that we need the results of whether Lilith really does have a moon face. BRING OUT THE PROTRACTOR!"

"Okay, I’m putting a stop to this," Luz said firmly, and stood up to walk forward from the cheering audience.

"Oh hey, Luz!" King waved gleefully as the human snatched the microphone from the little stuffed penguin. "You got some more trash to throw on this glorious dumpster fire?"

Luz gave the delighted demon a disapproving glare before lifting the microphone to her mouth. "Eda, I know Lilith has done hurtful things…" she glanced back to her friends, who had all been either tricked or forcefully duelled into submission by the ex-coven leader. "…to all of us." She noted how Lilith dropped her eyes guiltily from where she’d been looking over, and pressed on. "But she’s also been trying to make up for them. She betrayed the Emperor and took on your curse. Those things are just as important."

There was some sincere, if not as excited, applause from the toys, and Eda’s anger wavered. Lilith seemed to notice the change in her sister’s expression and took her chance.

"Edalyn," she began softly. "I don’t pretend that I’ve always had good motivations. I did a lot of selfish things, and I’m still trying to let go of that part of myself. But I mean it when I say I am really, truly-"

"Hold on," King interrupted, putting a claw to his ear. "I’m being told we’ve got footage of what _really_ happened to Lilith’s pet Venomous Toadstool."

Eda’s eyes widened. " _Uh-oh_ ," she said quietly, and looked with apprehension to the large projected image that was shimmering into place above the armchairs.

They all watched the footage of a red-haired, teenaged Lilith asleep in her neatly organised bedroom, a large, fluorescently glowing mushroom potted on top of a chest of drawers by the window. The audience of toys let out a low, squeaky murmur as the image showed a young, orange-haired Eda sneaking into the room and over to the window. The mushroom stirred and chirped quietly and Eda tickled it under its cap, putting a finger to her lips. She opened the top drawer, glanced at her sleeping sister, and pulled out a bag of slimy-looking sweets. She popped one in her mouth, pocketed the bag, and turned to leave as she closed the drawer – but the motion made the mushroom’s pot wobble, and it toppled out of the window with a surprised yelp.

Willow slapped a shocked hand to her mouth, and the toys in the audience let out an accusing roar even as the younger Eda in the image scrabbled, too late, towards the window. Young Eda winced at the loud splat that came from below and gave a panicked look to Lilith, who was stirring; she quickly darted out of the room. As the footage ended and the image disappeared, present-day Lilith turned back to Eda with fury in her eyes.

"YOU TOLD ME A GROWLFIEND TOOK RICHARD!" she yelled.

Eda’s eyes were still wide with guilt. "I got you another one," she justified.

"And I thought that was you just being nice!" Lilith retorted. "I spent _weeks_ going out looking for him!"

"And I had your curse for _decades!"_ Eda returned, her anger flaring again, and the crowd’s jeers rose to drown out the recommencing shouting match. King clapped his paws together gleefully from his position between the two furious witches.

"Eda! Lilith! Stop!" Luz called into the microphone in vain, her amplified voice unable to cut through the din. She turned back to look at her friends helplessly.

Gus shook his head with exasperation, and got up from his seat. He went over to Luz, took the microphone from her, and drew a glowing circle with his other hand to summon the illusion of a bugle. He blew through the instrument’s mouthpiece, sounding out a clear, crisp rhythm of notes over the heckles. The voices died down again, and Gus waited until there was silence before dismissing the bugle into a puff of smoke and lifting the microphone.

"Eda, Lilith, I want you to both look at each other," he said.

The two women both huffed, but met each other’s furious gaze.

"Knock knock," Gus said.

 _"Seriously?"_ Eda looked to King indignantly, but the little demon was stroking his chin with a curious claw.

"I’ll allow it," he nodded, and the witches rolled their eyes before looking at each other again.

" _Who’s there?"_ they grumbled in unison.

Gus ran his tongue around the inside of his closed mouth, trying to figure out the right phrasing. "Ivor Givyah."

" _Ivor Givyah who?"_ the sisters replied before both whipping their heads around to the boy, their anger at what they’d just been tricked into saying apparent on their faces.

"Why you _little-"_ Eda began to snarl, but was cut off by the rumbling that began to shake the whole studio. Then in a flash the living room of the Owl House was returned to normal, and the audience of now-inanimate toys tumbled down into a pile on top of Luz, Amity and Willow. Eda, King and Lilith glanced around from their seats on the couch, frowning.

"…What just happened?" Eda asked.

"Magic thing," Luz said, popping her head up from underneath the mountain of stuffed animals.

Amity popped her head up next to her. "Willow’s got a bracelet that’s turning people’s drama into Crystal Ball shows." She turned her head to the empty space next to her. "…I don’t suppose that got rid of it?"

Willow’s hand rose through the top layer of toys, the red bracelet still firmly in place around her wrist.

"Oh," Amity said in a disappointed tone.

"I think it kinda honed in on you two," Luz added to the two sisters.

Lilith scoffed and stood. "I should have guessed something so vulgar could only have come out of Edalyn’s mind."

"Are you _really_ trying to say that had nothing to do with you?" Eda spat, standing too.

Amity slowly sank back down into the pile of toys as the adults’ bickering continued, but Luz pushed her way forward to tumble to the living room floor.

"It’s okay, it’s over now!" the human said, putting herself between the tall pair. "The spell’s finished, you don’t have to fight anymore!"

"Oh, there’s a lot of things we never _had_ to do," Eda said bitterly. "Lilith never _had_ to give me a life-long infirmity just so she could get her career started!"

"As you keep seeming to forget, I have the curse too now!" Lilith returned. "And I’ve also lost that career. What else do I have to lose to have gone through the same thing as you?"

"You know _exactly_ what else I-" Eda quickly stopped herself from going any further, glancing uneasily at the audience of teenagers now watching them. She let out a furious snort and folded her arms. "Come back when you’ve had the curse for thirty years, and _then_ we’ll talk," she snapped at her sister.

Lilith aimed a glare at Eda’s turned back before storming towards the door, spinning around again as she reached it.

"I’M GOING TO WRITE A SONG ABOUT THIS!" she promised, before swinging the door open.

" _Hey, don’t slam the-"_ Hooty began, but was cut off by the door being swung shut with a loud bang. Eda hurried over to it and opened it again – Hooty’s eyes looked a little dazed.

"WELL IT WON’T BE WORSE THAN ANY OF YOUR OTHER ONES!" she yelled after her sister.

" _Wait, please, don’t-"_ Hooty protested, but Eda had already slammed the door shut again, and a high, nauseous groan sounded from the other side. Eda stalked back across the living room.

"I’m sorry Eda," Luz said. "Um… we were hoping you could help us with-"

"NOT NOW!" Eda fumed, and went through to the stairwell to stomp up to her nest.

Luz watched her go, and then turned her eyes onto King. " _You_ shouldn’t have encouraged this!" she accused.

"Uh… the spell thing made me do it?" King tried, an obvious attempt at innocence on his bony face. Luz scowled and started towards him, and King yelped and scurried out of the room.

"Luz!" Amity swam her way out of the mound of toys and followed the human into the hallway she’d chased the demon through.

Gus spotted Willow’s hand still reaching out of the pile and went over to grab it. With a firm pull, he managed to yank the other witchling out and she stumbled forward onto the carpet.

"Thanks," she said, then frowned at the front door. "I don’t get it. Eda and Lilith really don’t seem like they’d forgiven each other, so why did it all disappear?"

"Apparently just saying the words is good enough," Gus shrugged. "These shows that keep happening seem pretty superficial, so the spell must be too."

"But if you really forgave Mattholomule, how did you know that would work? Unless…" Willow took in the way Gus had slunk over to slump on the couch, not meeting her eyes, and she went over to sit down next to him. "…you didn’t really forgive him did you?"

Gus shook his head. "I started the _Human Appreciation Society_ to try and make friends who liked the same things I did, and he took that away from me. I’m not gonna hold onto being angry or anything, but forgiveness is about trusting that someone won’t do that same thing again, and I know he absolutely would. I only said I forgave him cos I thought it would end the fight." He took a breath, and then smiled up at Willow. "But this is good! It means you just have to say the words to Amity and it’ll get rid of your bracelet!"

Willow dropped her eyes and tapped her foot agitatedly.

"I know it’s still a lot to ask," Gus said. "But if it’s how the spell works, then I think you have to. She’ll understand if you’ve got more to work through before you actually get there."

Willow’s gaze remained fixed on the floor. "…There’s some things I never wanted to have to say," she said quietly. Gus put a supportive hand on her shoulder, and they sat quietly together.


	5. Chapter 5

The group had left the Owl House and were now walking back through the forest. Luz and Amity were walking ahead again, Luz back in planning mode.

"If we’re gonna do it in a singular, fell kind of swoop, then we need to go for the big stuff." The human girl turned to Amity. "What’s the absolute worst thing you ever did to Willow?"

Amity groaned and put her face in her hands, and they both stopped.

"…Sorry," Luz said quietly. "I’ve gotten all hyper-focusey again, haven’t I?"

"It’s okay," Amity sighed, lowering her hands. "I know we’ve got to go there. It’s just tough being reminded of what I used to be like."

"Well you’re not like that now," Luz reassured her, taking hold of the other girl’s hand. "You’re trying to fix things, that says the most about who you are."

Amity gave her girlfriend a smile, and they kissed.

Willow and Gus rounded the corner on the woodland path behind them, and Willow stopped at the sight of her friends in an embrace.

"Oh, I guess we’ve forgotten about helping me again," she muttered, and stomped over to lean against a tree.

Gus followed her, glancing over at the pair ahead of them who were still talking quietly. "Willow, if you’re upset then why don’t you say something?" he asked.

Willow folded her arms. "Aren’t I supposed to be keeping things calm? Isn’t that what’s going to help us get along?"

Gus hummed thoughtfully. "Everything Amity did wrong before is kind of obvious. But if she doesn’t know what it is she’s doing now that’s upsetting you, then you’re not giving her the chance to stop doing it."

Willow let out a long breath. "I know it’s not on purpose though. It must be exciting dating someone for the first time and get caught up in it. I shouldn’t be thinking of them as like those completely self-absorbed teen couples you see in shows who are all intense and brooding and…"

Willow trailed off, and pinched her brow as she remembered just which rules they were playing by at the moment.

"Now that I’ve said that, I’m gonna look over at them and they’re gonna be exactly like that, aren’t they?"

Gus cautiously turned his head, and his eyes widened at what he saw. "…Yeah, pretty much."

When Willow looked round, she saw that the other two girls had indeed changed appearance. They were now both taller and had longer hair, Luz dressed in a dark green shirt which was open over a striped top, her shirt sleeves and jean cuffs rolled up and a red beanie perched on her head. Amity was wearing a pink dress over black tights, her previously chin-length hair now a long, streaming mane of green and brown. The pair were looking away from each other with their arms folded, and edgy guitar music was playing from somewhere.

" _Tch_ , I think _Blight_ knows the most about brooding," Luz said, still looking away from her girlfriend.

" _Tch,_ you think you know me so well, _Noceda_ ," Amity returned, also scowling in the other direction.

"Oh boy," Willow groaned.

Gus coughed diplomatically. "So Luz, have you thought up another way we can help get rid of the bracelet?"

"I dunno," Luz replied, thumbing over her shoulder towards Amity. "I’m starting to enjoy seeing this one suffer."

"You’ve already made me suffer enough." Amity turned around, and Luz turned with her in perfect unison. The pair locked half-closed eyes, and Amity reached up a hand to gently grip at the other girls shirt. " _You ruined my life the second I saw you_ ," she breathed breathily.

" _Your life needed some ruining,"_ Luz replied in an equally husky tone, looking at her girlfriend with a self-assured smirk.

Willow huffed. "Are you two gonna help, or are you just gonna stand there…" she waved a hand at the pair as she tried to sum up their demeanour. "… _smouldering_?"

But Luz and Amity seemed lost in their own heavy aura. Their faces leaned close together for a moment, their mouths not quite meeting, but then Amity turned her head away.

"We’re from different worlds," she said, "and one day you’ll leave and I hate you for it." Then she turned back and put a hand on Luz’s cheek. "But I love you…" Then she closed her eyes again and lowered her head. "… _but I hate you_ …."

"This seems very dysfunctional," Gus commented.

"Yeah, I don’t think they’re gonna be much help now." Willow looked down at her wrist. "Do you think if we went back to the arena there’d be someone there who knows more about the bracelets?"

"Oh, maybe." Gus looked over at Luz and Amity uncertainly. "…Can we just leave them like this?"

Willow watched the couple, who were stood running their fingers through each other’s hair. But then Luz grinned and tugged a little too hard on Amity’s green locks, making the witchling hiss at her with bared fangs.

"Hey!" Willow clapped her hands to get their attention, and pointed in the general direction of the arena. "Look over there! It’s a mandatory event that requires prolonged physical contact!"

The two other girls looked where Willow was pointing before looking back to each other.

"Well I’ll do it, but only because we have to," Amity insisted.

"Likewise," Luz agreed, and the pair headed off with their hands swinging next to each other, not _quite_ touching. Willow rolled her eyes at Gus and they followed.

* * *

The sense of _slay-ja vu_ that Willow felt at approaching the arena entrance didn’t help her mood, she and Gus once again having to coax Luz and Amity on as the now-older girls dallied. They kept being drawn into flirtatious arguments with each other, and more than once Willow and Gus’d had to tear them away from some promisingly angsty setups (Amity’d insisted she had no idea how her and Luz’s wrists had become handcuffed together, although the owner of the stall of trinkets had easily unlocked them, claiming that the supposedly cursed unbreakable manacles “weren’t”).

There was no-one on the door this time, but as the group approached the arena they saw a Hexside student heading towards the entrance – the goat-eared boy with a singular eye and horn was carrying a large brass instrument with lots of complicated valves.

"Hey Thalast!" Gus called out.

"Oh… h-hey, Gus." The student looked suddenly awkward at the sight of the other boy. "Uh… sorry about the whole H.A.S. stuff."

"Don’t worry about it," Gus waved him away. "I don’t mind if you keep going." He eyed the instrument that Thalast had lowered to the floor. "Something going on here tonight?"

"Yeah, there’s a tech rehearsal for the Bard-Track concert," Thalast replied, tugging at his uniform’s red sleeves. "They needed a second eww-phonium so I got let out of the Detention Track to… _whoa_."

Willow and Gus followed the boy’s gaze to where Luz and Amity were catching up behind; Amity was now wearing Luz’s green shirt over her shoulders, and both of them were looking furious about it.

" _Gus, you didn’t tell me you knew TWO humans!"_ Thalast whispered excitedly.

"She’s the same one as before," Gus clarified. "She’s just gone through a bit of a change today."

"They can do that?" Thalast asked, in awe.

"Can we go in already?" Luz scowled, hugging her arms to herself as she arrived. "It’s getting cold. Although that might just be Princess Pistachio’s icy heart."

"Call me that again and I’ll warm you up with a fireball to the face," Amity retorted.

"You’re meant to be _dis_ couraging me, not _en_ couraging me," Luz shot back with a smile.

Thalast frowned at Willow. "W-Why would that encourage her?"

Willow shrugged. "Something something romantic tension," she replied wearily.

They went through the doors and Willow went up to the reception counter, which was vacant.

"Hello?" she called out, but there was no response so she turned back to Gus. "Do you think they kept any bracelets they had left over around here somewhere? There might be instructions with the others."

"Uhh, I guess?" Gus replied distractedly. "Amity you can give the shirt back if you want, you don’t have to- Luz, put that down! Where did you even _get_ a maceball bat?!"

"Are you looking for more of those red bands?" Thalast asked, pointing to Willow’s wrist. "I saw some boxes of them backstage when we were here setting up last night."

"Oh! Can you show us?" Willow asked.

Thalast nodded and they followed him down a side corridor. After turning a few corners they arrived at the door to the backstage area, through which a few other Bard-Track students were carrying their instruments. Willow watched a couple of stage-hand demons bustling between fixed pieces of equipment – she spotted a few boxes in a corner and glanced out at the stage. The students were still positioning themselves in the chairs that had been arranged across the space, and the audience stands beyond were empty. Willow went over to the boxes and opened the top one; it was indeed filled with more of the _Bleeding Hearts_ bracelets and she parsed her hands through them, trying to see if there was an instructional pamphlet of some kind hidden amongst the red bands.

"Hey guys, we appreciate the support, but if you’re not part of the orchestra can you…"

Willow turned to see Skara stood by them, the short witch having trailed off to stare at the green-maned, grouchy-looking member of their group.

"… _Amity_?" Skara asked, bewildered.

"Yeah, what’s up Skar?" Amity responded, blowing a curled lock of hair from her eyes.

Skara looked between Amity and Luz for a moment before suddenly snapping her fingers in realisation. "You’ve got one of those bracelets, don’t you? I was helping out backstage at the Jareth show for extra credit, I saw them being given out to the audience."

"I’m the one who's got it," Willow said, holding up her arm demonstratively. "We’re trying to figure out how to make it go away."

"Maybe we should let Amity use her crafty little canines," Luz said, flicking a finger across her girlfriend’s mouth. "I bet those monstrous fangs would make short work of it."

"I only see one deformed monster around here," Amity replied, giving Luz’s round ears a pinch.

Gus pushed the squabbling pair apart. "Will you two stop _baiting_ each other?" he chided.

"…I’m gonna go set up," Thalast said awkwardly before lugging his eew-phonium out onto the stage. Willow glanced at where Gus was still trying to keep the two baiters from poking at each other further.

Skara giggled. ‘"s that how you see them too?" she whispered conspiratorially to Willow.

Willow frowned. "Is that how _you_ see them?" she asked.

"Well, it’s how Amity was before," Skara clarified. "She used to complain and complain about 'the human' and being shown up at the Covention and at the library. She just wouldn’t shut up about her, it was so obvious."

Willow looked back over at Luz and Amity, who were sulking apart from each other.

"Yeah," she said. "Luz kept going on about her too…"

Gus was still playing peacemaker between the two taller girls. "What exactly don't you like about each other?" he said. "Haven't you both made each other happier in the long run?"

Amity looked at Luz, her expression now softer, and stepped over to her. "I didn't know what being truly happy meant until I met you. You’ve shown me how much more beautiful and wonderful life can be." She lifted her hand to Luz’s cheek. "But I forgive you."

There was a light pop, and Luz and Amity returned to normal. They both blinked and looked down at themselves, Amity bringing a finger to her now-receded fangs.

"Did I just have a hat and an air of playful hostility?" Luz asked.

"Oh, _that’s_ what he meant!" Skara gasped.

"Who?" Willow asked.

"Jareth!" Skara replied. "You know, at the end of the concert! He said the bracelets would bring a surprise and anyone who didn’t want to take part just had to figure out the magic words!"

"I just said 'I forgive you'…" Amity said thoughtfully. "…and Gus got Eda and Lilith to say that too!"

"Gus, you figured it out?" Luz asked him. "Why didn’t you tell Willow?"

Gus turned to give Willow a narrow look. "You’re right. I’m _very sorry_ Willow," he intoned.

"Well, now we know what will fix it," Luz sighed with relief, and looked to Willow expectantly.

" _Places please!"_ the voice of the Bard-Track teacher called out from over the arena speaker system, and Skara hurried away to take her position.

"Uh…" Willow gave Amity a hesitant look. "…It’ll do the big announcement thing for the show like it did with Gus, let’s wait until they’ve finished their rehearsal."

"Okay," Amity nodded, seemingly relieved at the lack of any other protest. She glanced over at the boxes of other bracelets. "I’m glad this is gonna be over for you…but I might take a couple for the road."

Luz raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend. "Oh, so you liked that little dynamic did you?" she grinned.

Amity shrugged. "It was just nice to feel tall," she replied, although she couldn’t hide her blush.

" _Skara, can you take the solo spot so we can get the lighting cue please?"_ the Bard-Track teacher’s voice sounded out again, and Skara stood from her chair to walk over to a microphone stand at the front of the stage.

"Don’t worry, I get you," Luz nodded, twining her fingers through Amity’s. "Takes me back to our whole enemies-to-lovers thing we had going on."

"I know," Amity chuckled. "It was kinda… _compelling."_

Gus turned to Willow at the sound of a sharp crackling – Willow’s jaw was set tight and she was glaring at the giggly couple, a wrathful flare of sparks erupting from her bracelet.

There was a great flash, and when they looked out to the stage again they saw that Skara was still stood in front of the central microphone, but was now wearing a black-and-purple cocktail dress that sparkled under the stage lights. She lifted her head, plucked the microphone from its stand and lifted her other hand in the air.

"Good evening Boiling Isles!" she called out. "Welcome to the best talent show anywhere on the Titan, _The Hex Factor!"_

The rest of the musicians, now all dressed in matching black tuxedos instead of their Hexside uniforms, played out an upbeat, jazzy refrain and a roaring cheer sounded from the arena's seats. The group behind the stage tried squinting past the blinding lights but couldn’t see if a crowd really had suddenly appeared.

"We’ve got a real treat for our first act," Skara continued. "Hexside’s top student and my personal friend, she’s got a great singing voice, you’re gonna love her, please welcome Miss Amity Blight!"

Amity’s still-pink cheeks turned deathly pale and her eyes widened in terror, but one of the stage-hand demons gave her a firm shove from behind and she stumbled out onto the stage. The band were continuing with their cheerful tune and Skara was looking back and holding out a hand invitingly, flashing Amity a toothy smile. When the other girl remained frozen to the spot, Skara strode over and pulled her forward to stand in front of the microphone, and then stepped back. The band landed on a long closing note, which faded away along with the sound of the crowd, leaving Amity alone on the stage, in silence.

Willow watched the green-haired witchling clutch at the microphone with both hands; Amity was trembling, and it looked like she was peering forward into the darkness beyond.

"U-Um…" The stutter echoed out across the arena, bouncing back to restrain any further noise from Amity’s mouth. She took a couple of breaths, trying to force out any more sound, but failed.

"Okay stop," Willow called out. She stepped out onto the stage, and Amity turned to her with wide, surprised eyes. Willow walked up to stand next to her and held up her own arm, displaying her bracelet. "I don’t want this."

"Then you know what you have to do to stop it," Skara said from the side of the stage.

Willow glanced at Amity, who was giving her an apprehensive look.

"I…" Willow felt the eyes of all the musicians on her; she turned back to Luz and Gus, who were peering out at the stage, and her stomach clenched. Whatever she was still feeling towards Amity, she didn’t want her to be put through this but… she still couldn’t bring herself to do what she needed to.

"…Well if she’s not going to sing," Skara tutted, "then I’m afraid that’s a forfeit. And we all know what that means!"

There was a unified rustle of various solid objects, and when Willow and Amity turned to look at the musicians they saw they had all repositioned their instruments.

It was as if they were _aiming_ them at the two girls.

Amity and Willow met each other’s eyes again, and both gave a yelp and ducked down just as a barrage of magical bolts fired out from the bells of the brass section with a cacophony of parps and toots.

"Amity! Willow!" Luz and Gus bounded out onto the stage, but the string section spun in their chairs to face them and pulled their bows back against the strings of their instruments in unison. The two targets ducked back out of sight as the bows were fired, lodging themselves into the side of the stage wall. Luz poked her head out again, yanked one of the bows out of the wall and ran forward – a blue, web-eared boy stood from his seat brandishing a flute, and he and Luz began to duel.

Willow had grabbed a handful of seeds she kept in her tunic pocket and scattered them across the front of the stage; with a twist of her finger, the seeds had sprouted into a thick hedge that shielded them from the incoming attacks. Amity drew a spell circle of her own and a pool of purple slime spread out across the stage floor under the hedge towards the brass section. Shapes rose up from the pool and poured themselves into the bells of their instruments, and the musicians puffed vainly against the blockages.

Gus was trying to make his way over to the hedge past the fighting, but Skara stepped out in front of him, holding a long boossoon. She snapped it in half over her knee and held the two pieces up in a fighting stance, still wearing the high-energy smile of her host persona. Gus balked as the older witchling charged at him and grabbed a discarded obone to defend himself. He held up his weapon to block Skara’s swings, but the force of her attacks pushed him back and he dived under a skeletal xylophone. Skara brought her boossoon pieces down on it above him, following his scurrying movements whilst also playing out a perfect chromatic scale. Gus came out from under the other end of the xylophone and jumped onto the pair of kettle drums, bouncing from one to the other before leaping up towards the stage curtain. He plunged the end of his obone through the curtain’s fabric and it made a tear down it as he fell, slowing his descent.

Willow saw Gus land on the stage again, and with a swipe of her hand she split the hedge in front of her in two and slid the other half across to her right for him to crouch behind.

"You’ve got to end this!" Gus called to Willow across the stage. "Tell Amity you forgive her!"

"It won’t work!" Willow insisted.

"We _know_ it will!" Gus retorted. "Please, I know it’s hard, but you have to do it!"

"Willow," Amity began, still holding her hands out and straining to keep her Abomination blockages in place. "I’ll understand if you don’t really mean it. If this is your revenge on me then I know I deserve it, but please don’t make it something where Luz or Gus get hurt!"

"It’s not that!" Willow replied, the pressure at being confronted escalating the tension she was already feeling from the fight. "I don’t want this! I didn’t know how to end things until Gus figured it out with Eda and Lilith!"

"But what about before?" Amity asked. "If they said at the show there was a magic phrase that would end the spell, why didn’t you tell us so we could try and work out-"

"BECAUSE WE MISSED IT!" Willow finally yelled. "WE MISSED THE SHOW BECAUSE YOU BOTH MADE US LATE!"

Amity’s eyes widened and Willow dropped her own.

"The guy on the door gave me and Gus the wristbands, but he wouldn't let us in," she continued. "I didn't say anything because I didn't want to make things any worse between us."

Willow looked up again, and her stomach tightened further at Amity's guilt-ridden expression, at yet another problem the two of them now had to work through.

"I’m s-"

But Amity’s apology was cut off by Skara skidding round the side of their hedge, brandishing her makeshift fighting sticks.

"I’m afraid you won’t survive to the next round!" she said to Amity, still grinning madly.

Amity quickly pulled her hands back to bring her pool of purple sludge toward her again, and a single Abomination rose in front of her to grab hold of Skara’s sticks, although the shorter witch strained against the purple figure with surprising strength. Amity let out a cry of effort and both she and her Abomination stomped forward, pushing Skara back upstage.

Willow peered round her hedge and saw Amity end up back-to-back with Luz, who was swinging her bow to fend off attacks from couple of other musicians, although most had remained seated and were playing some high-tempo accompaniment to the fight. Willow’s eye was caught by Thalast standing from his seat, twisting some of the levers on his eww-phonium into new positions. She met his eyes with a pleading expression, hoping that the bracelet’s spell might not be _totally_ controlling him.

Thalast met her gaze. And he pointed his instrument directly at her.

Willow ducked back behind her hedge again as a stream of continuous flame erupted from the eww-phonium’s wide bell. She looked up and saw the leaves of her hedge catch alight, and she darted away to the left to come out from the hedge’s other end. Thalast moved his torrent of fire in the opposite direction towards the other half of the hedge and Gus tried to escape to the right, but the curtain he had torn through earlier now collapsed in a pile blocking his path, the flames from the hedge quickly spreading to the fabric. Gus looked out past the edge of the stage, but baying cries from an unseen mass beyond the lights kept him from jumping down.

Willow watched her trapped young friend as Thalast continued to blow into his mouthpiece, keeping up the stream of flames. She grimaced as she finally accepted that, despite how horribly exposing it would be, there was only one way to stop this.

She ran across the stage towards Luz and Amity, having to slide under some more bolts fired from the orchestra, and ended up at their feet. Amity looked down and offered her hand, which Willow took and allowed herself to be pulled up.

Both girls looked at each other. Willow gave the other witchling a weak smile.

And then she looked away from her towards Luz.

Willow put her hand on the human’s shoulder, who turned away from the chaos around them to meet Willow’s gaze. Willow took a steadying breath.

"Luz," she said, "I forgive you."

Luz frowned in confusion, but sure enough the whole stage started to shake, and with a final peaking rumble its occupants were returned to the state they were in only minutes ago. The musicians were all back in their Hexside uniforms and their instruments unmangled.

Gus looked up from where he was sat on the edge of the stage, the hedge he had hidden behind now gone. Thalast was still holding his eww-phonium out, but after a few seconds of gradual comprehension he gingerly placed it on the ground and stepped away from it.

Willow felt a tingling on her wrist and looked down to see her red bracelet finally disintegrating into scraps. They rose into the air and started to form the shape of the _Bleeding Hearts_ logo just as before, but Willow’s gaze fell on Luz’s face, who was looking shocked.

"…Willow?" she asked.

The bespectacled witchling felt an unbearable tension and turned to hurry offstage, passing a bemused-looking Skara who was holding her intact boossoon. Willow left the lights of the arena and the sound of the _Bleeding Hearts_ advertisement voiceover behind.

 _"Uh..."_ the voice of the Bard-Track teacher sounded over the arena speakers. "... _I think we'll skip that cue after all."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [hyacinth(Lexa_Alycia)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexa_Alycia/pseuds/hyacinth) for "boossoon"!


	6. Chapter 6

Willow was sat behind a stack of spare chairs in one of the arena’s dead-end corridors when she heard Luz’s footsteps approaching. The witchling didn’t look up even as the human stopped by the edge of her hiding place.

"Willow," Luz began, almost in a whisper. "…were you mad at _me_ this whole time?"

Willow sighed. "It’s fine," she said, still not looking over. "It’s over now, we don’t have to talk about it. Out of sight, out of mind." But Luz came and sat next to her, and Willow cringed as she realised her friend wasn’t going to let this go.

"If I’ve done something to hurt you then I want to know, so I can make sure I never do it again." Luz had kept a little space between them, but was close enough to keep her voice low and still be heard. "What is it?"

Willow fought with the internal barriers she’d put up, the barriers that had been keeping her hurt feelings out of the way so that everything could carry on smoothly with no fuss, and no drama. She knew her job was to keep her problems hidden so as not to be a difficulty, but Luz was insistently waiting. It took a little while and a few wavering breaths, but eventually Willow forced herself to speak.

"…You were _my_ friend," she began softly. "And you knew that Amity was mean to me and hurt me, but then you started hanging out with her and sharing books and training with her. It’s like I was the first person at Hexside you met so you _had_ to be friends with me, but then you found your dream broody cool-girl crush. It’s felt like you only want me and her to make up so you two can keep hanging out." Willow’s throat was trying to close itself over her words, and she had to take another breath to keep her voice steady. "You were showing us all your human music, and I was so excited to show you _my_ favourite music at the concert. But you just wanted to have a date."

Willow felt a tear roll down her cheek and clenched her eyes shut. She felt selfish for making her own feelings known, for making someone else have to work around her. And when she looked up, her chest went taut at the sight of her friend’s appalled look.

"Willow, I am SO sorry," Luz said. "I never, _ever_ meant for it to seem like I was putting Amity before you. I shouldn’t have tried to push you two back together if that’s not what you wanted. I…" She lowered her own gaze. "…I just want everyone to get along and be happy."

Willow looked over her friend’s honest, open face and couldn’t help an affectionate smile. "Of course you do," she sighed.

Luz took a breath too. "This whole 'having friends' thing is brand new for me, and I’m still figuring it out. But I should have thought about how you felt before I- before _any_ of that happened." She looked up and met Willow’s eyes with a firm gaze. "You’re the first real friend I’ve ever had. You’re so kind, and considerate, and talented, and funny, and from now on I’m going to make sure I treat you as well as you deserve."

Willow felt a couple more tears fall down her cheeks. She pulled Luz into a hug, and felt the tension she’d been holding in dissipate.

"Thank you," she whispered before pulling away with a sniff. "And I do get that it must be exciting having your first girlfriend."

A wide, embarrassed smile spread across Luz’s face. "It is," she nodded. "It’s _really_ exciting." But then the smile faded. "Is it that weird for you, that me and Amity are dating?" she asked quietly.

The human’s expression was anxious, and when Willow read the meaning behind it she shook her head. "I don’t want you two to break up or anything," she confirmed. "But it’s still gonna take some time for me to get used to it."

"Sure,' Luz nodded. "And then…you and her. Do you _want_ to be friends with Amity again?"

Willow leant her head back against the stack of chairs behind her. Her head buzzed with all the thoughts she’d had from that day, from the last few weeks, and from all those years since Amity had ended their friendship.

"I don’t know," she replied.

* * *

"So she _is_ still mad at me?"

Luz bit her lip, trying to form an answer to her girlfriend’s question. "I think we’re just gonna have to give it more time," she said.

Amity leant forward on the couch to rest her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. "I suppose so," she nodded. "It’s a big change from how things have been for so long."

"Yeah," Luz started tangling her fingers together apprehensively. "Willow actually suggested that me and her go to the Snotanical Gardens tomorrow after school. Would it be okay if we moved Azura Book Club to Thursday instead?"

"Sure," Amity nodded readily.

"Thanks," the human smiled in relief. "I wanna make sure I’m giving both of you attention. And now you get some distraction-free time to study," she added with a wink.

"Actually, if I’ve got a free evening…" Amity glanced at the other girl a little sheepishly. "Do you think I could borrow that human karaoke machine?"

A wide grin spread across Luz’s face as her girlfriend blushed. "Well of _course_ you can!" she replied. "Caught the bug after all, did you?"

Amity shrugged. "You were right, singing is fun when it’s just you and your friends. And a couple of the songs stuck with me."

"Yeah, I remember how much you got into them," Luz giggled. "The only thing more golden than your eyes are your pipes."

"BOOO!" King jeered from his spot curled up on the top of a tall bookshelf. "Eda! They’re being mushy again!"

Eda poked her head out from around the doorway to the living room. "Hey!" She pointed an accusing finger at the young pair sat on her couch. "What did I tell you two about being cute?"

"' _Not above a three'_ ," Amity recited with a sigh.

"They were hitting a _solid_ six," King tattled.

"Well, simmer down," the grey-haired witch instructed. "I put up with a lot in this house, but I will _not_ tolerate-"

But then Eda fell silent and they all turned towards the source of the confusing, unfamiliar noise that had just sounded out.

There had been a knock at the door of the Owl House.

"Hmm... the lights are still on, so Hooty must be okay," Eda said.

"It’s probably the Sappy Police," King said, turning around on the top of the bookcase before curling up again.

"Excuse me," Luz protested. "We are behaving with _perfect_ decorum."

"Then be perfecter," Eda retorted, heading over to the door. "You should know by now just how little I can stand romantic-"

But the witch’s words dried up like a sudden drought as she opened the door and saw who was behind it.

"Al," she breathed in surprise.

Alador Blight was stood outside, one hand behind his back with the other raised to pinch Hooty’s beak shut between two fingers.

"Hello Eda," he returned, an uncharacteristically awkward tinge to his usually dignified aura. Eda couldn’t seem to find her next words, so Alador looked past her towards his daughter. "You have not been reading my messages," he scolded.

"Oh." Amity hurriedly summoned her scroll and looked at its display guiltily. "S-Sorry Dad."

" _I could’ve_ -" Hooty managed to get out in the split second it took for Alador to rub his nose irritably, but then the bearded man returned his fingers to grip the house-demon’s mouth closed again.

"We will discuss it when we get home," Alador said firmly.

Amity looked to Luz apprehensively; apparently, the evening was over. "I’ll see you at school," she said quietly.

"Okay," Luz nodded. "Oh, hang on!" The human darted across the room to pick up the box that held the karaoke machine and its various wires.

"Thanks," Amity said as she took it, and after another glance at her father she gave the other girl a quick peck on the cheek before heading to the door. Alador kept his glower on her until she was over the threshold, his eyes probing the box she held, but then his gaze became preoccupied by Eda again.

"So," he began. "How have you bee-"

Eda slammed the door in his face.

She stayed where she was until the two Blights’ footsteps had faded away, and then ran a hand over her face with a groan.

"Eda, I’m trying to stay in his good books," Luz huffed.

"Sorry," the witch replied, still massaging her brow. "It’s just never easy seeing your ex again."

She waited a few seconds for the reaction she knew would come, but still winced a little at the long, vocal gasp from the girl on the couch behind her. She turned around to see Luz gesturing manically.

" _EXPLAIN…WORDS…NOW…"_ was all her apprentice could apparently manage.

"It was back when we were both at Hexside," Eda obliged, already cringing at how revealingly loudly she’d slammed that door, which hadn’t brought the satisfaction she’d been hoping for. "Almost right up until we left."

"But…Amity said him and her mom got together at Hexside," Luz said, confused.

"Yeah, Odalia always had her eye on him," Eda nodded darkly. "And then when the curse happened and I was handling it badly, she… _pounced."_

Luz looked down to stare at the floor. "Oh man, that’s…" She stood and began pacing agitatedly. "And right when you’d just started dealing with the curse…but then if you and him were still together that means Amity wouldn’t exist…oh, I’m so conflicted about this."

"Hey, it was a _long_ time ago," Eda assured her. "The point comes when you just have to let go of it. We’ve grown up since then and become different people, and we all-"

Eda paused, apparently running over a thought in her head.

"…we all do stupid things when we’re kids," she finished quietly. She took a heavy breath. "But maybe let’s not do any big family barbeques or anything."

Luz nodded. "Yeah, of course."

The door swung open and Hooty fixed his occupants with a firm stare, some pale, globulous residue dripping from his beak.

" _Will you PLEASE,"_ he seethed. _"STOP. SLAMMING. THE DOOR."_

* * *

"There’s _no way_ I would have gotten out of that if you hadn’t grabbed my legs," Luz giggled.

"Yeah, the Mucus Guy Trap can get pretty friendly," Willow chuckled.

"I could feel the digestive juices starting to flow." Luz ran a hand through her hair. "If you’d left it a few more seconds I might have come out with frosted tips."

"Oh wow, disaster averted then."

The two girls kept laughing as they headed down the school corridor. Most of the other students they passed were swapping theories about which trashy storylines _Bleeding Hearts_ would be picking up when it started again – it seemed the advertising campaign had done its job.

"Thank you for making the time," Willow said. "I’ve missed us hanging out."

"Me too!" Luz grinned, linking her arm with her friend’s. But then they stopped at the buzzing sound from between some nearby air particles, and Willow summoned her scroll to her hand. She raised an eyebrow at the message she saw on its display.

"It’s Amity," she said. "She wants me to come to the hall."

"Oh." Luz frowned.

"Did she say anything to you?"

"No, I don’t think so."

Willow frowned too, and the pair headed towards Hexside’s main hall. But when they rounded the last corner Luz started in surprise when she saw Eda heading towards them; the tall witch’s eyes were darting around looking for something.

"Eda?" Luz asked as they reached each other. "You came to school? On purpose?"

"Yeah," Eda nodded, looking a little tense. "I went to see Lily to… to talk, I guess. But when I went to her apartment her neighbour said she’d come here. You seen her?"

Luz and Willow both shook their heads. They peered through the open double doors to the hall and saw Amity stood near the middle of the room, clutching her hands together nervously. The other three shared a perplexed glance before heading in.

"Hi Willow," Amity nodded to her old friend, and then gave the others a smile. "Hi Luz. Hi Eda."

"Heyyyy." Luz pointed back towards the door. "Do you want us to…?"

"No, it’s all right." Amity looked back at Willow. "I don’t want to put any pressure on you, but I never got to give you that big dramatic CB-show apology moment, so I was thinking I could do that. If it’s okay?"

Willow looked around the empty hall curiously and glanced at Luz, who was equally mystified. Amity was waiting silently, still twiddling her fingers together.

"Sure," Willow nodded, and Amity let out an apprehensive grin.

"Okay," she returned, and at the cue sudden pitched, reverberating noises sounded from the stage. The curtains covering it pulled themselves open, and Luz blinked in surprise to see Lilith, Tom and Tiny Nose stood on the stage with their instruments, playing out balladic chords much more harmoniously than Luz remembered them achieving before in their emotional venting sessions. Amity turned and walked over to the stage, climbed the steps and seated herself at the celesta that had been positioned with the band. The other musicians let their tones fade out and waited for the green-haired girl to begin. Amity took a breath, steadying herself.

[Her fingers hit the keys on the celesta and bell-like notes sounded out from the wooden casing in a tinkling melody](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNlVIMrUU6w). Luz gave a little gasp as she recognised the opening notes, suddenly connecting the dots as to why her girlfriend had wanted to borrow the karaoke machine. Amity kept her eyes on her hands as she played through the introduction, and then leaned forward toward a microphone hovering in front of her to sing.

" _Everybody needs a little time away  
I heard her say  
From each other,_

_Even lovers need a holiday  
Far away from each other,"_

Lilith was adding in some subtle backing on her guitar, and a couple of other students were poking their heads through the doorway at the sound of the music and Amity’s singing.

_"Hold me now  
It's hard for me to say I'm sorry  
I just want you to stay,"_

Amity glanced over to make eye contact with Willow and slowed her playing to a deliberate rhythm, the upcoming words clearly important to her.

_"After all that we've been through  
I will make it up to you  
I promise to,_

_And after all that's been said and done  
You're just a part of me I can't let go,"_

There was a lull in the music and a slight waver in Amity’s breath; a small crowd of curious students had now gathered in the hall, which seemed to be making her more nervous. But she steadied herself and Tom started up an accompanying beat on the drums for Amity to continue to.

_"Couldn't stand to be kept away  
Just for the day…"  
  
_

She mumbled whatever the next line was with an embarrassed look in her eye, and an amused smile played on Willow’s face as she realised this song must originally have been a lover’s ballad. Amity glanced over again and gave her a bashful smile before continuing.

_"Wouldn't want to be swept away  
Far away from the one that I love,_

_Hold me now  
It's hard for me to say I'm sorry  
I just want you to know,"_

Amity braced herself, and made a valiant attempt at hitting the next high note.

_"Hold me now!  
I really want to tell you I'm sorry  
I could never let you go,"_

Some of the students were giggling and Luz glanced at Eda, slightly nervous at what her unsentimental mentor would think of this mawkish display. But to Luz’s utter astonishment, she saw that Eda had clamped a hand to her mouth, her eyes shimmering.

"…You okay, Eda?" Luz asked quietly.

" _Mmm-hmm,"_ Eda whimpered shortly through her hand. Luz felt an affectionate smile spread over her face, and she linked both her arms around Eda’s free one, hugging it to her as Amity continued with her serenade to Willow.

_"After all that we've been through  
I will make it up to you  
I promise to,_

_And after all that's been said and done  
You're just a part of me I can't let go,"_

A smile started to grow on the green-haired girl’s face, apparently in anticipation of something, and her excitement brought new intensity to her voice.

_"After all that we've been through  
I will make it up to you  
I promise to…,"_

The sound of another, harsher instrument sounded out to the side, and Willow slapped a hand to her mouth to stop her squeal as Jareth Glow-Worm stepped out onto the stage. The crowd of students let out a great, surprised cheer at the sight of the tall, slim witch, who was dressed in an ice-blue suit with a sparkling silver tie, his bright red hair sweeping over the back of his neck. He was tearing his signature cacophonic sound from his stringed instrument as the rest of the band continued with the backing.

"Oh," Luz said. "So Amity’s like… RICH rich."

Willow could only nod, barely comprehending the sight of her favourite musician here in the flesh, playing for _her_. And then her heart leapt into her mouth as Jareth finished his solo and started coming down the steps towards her, his guitar swinging on the strap hooked around his neck. He drew a spell circle as he approached and summoned a bouquet of Willow’s favourite orange Serpent Orchids. He held it forward and Willow reached out to fumblingly take the bunch of flowers, blushing furiously.

"I hear you’re a fan," Jareth said with a dazzling smile. "Any requests?"

"U-Um…" Willow had to force her voice up from the bottom of her throat where it had gone to hide. "I-I’d like to hear _S-Standing On The S-Skull,_ please."

"That’s one of my favourites too," Jareth winked through a blue-shadowed eye, causing Willow’s face to turn somehow more red, and he turned to head back to the stage. Students were now pouring into the hall, word of the impromptu concert having apparently spread the length of the school lightning-fast. But as the band started up another song and the student’s cheers screamed out, Willow spotted Amity quietly heading offstage, wobbling on legs drained from nerves.

* * *

Jareth did a full set, covering everything Willow missed at the concert. Her glee at the personalised show was matched only by her delight at seeing Luz enjoying the music along with the rest of the crowd, singing along enthusiastically once she’d picked up the tune for each song. The show ran well into the next couple of classes, but the teachers had come to join the audience and were cheering and screaming just as much as the students. _Untitled Demon Project_ kept up admirably with the well-known songs, although Tiny Nose seemed to quickly realise the redundancy of having three guitars onstage and took the opportunity for a stage-dive early on – she ended up being happily bounced around by the upraised hands of the crowd. The only wrinkle had been when Luz’d had to reign in Eda’s attempts at starting a mosh pit out of concern for some of the smaller students.

When the final song was over Jareth took out one of his earrings and folded it into Willow’s palm before leaving, and she’d quickly become surrounded by people making wildly generous offers in exchange for the keepsake. Boscha had actually begged for it on her knees, which Willow enjoyed very much, but she didn’t give it up and the crowd eventually dispersed, babbling ecstatically. It took her a few times pacing the room before she’d calmed down enough, but once Willow’s heart rate had returned to something approaching normal she went looking behind the stage.

Amity was sat on a storage chest amongst props and set decorations from various school plays Hexside had put on. She was tapping at her scroll, but looked up at the sound of Willow approaching.

"You didn’t want to see what you paid for?" the bespectacled witchling asked.

"It wasn’t for me," Amity said. "It was for you." She banished her scroll and started fidgeting with a prop Pocus. "I know this doesn’t undo anything that I did, and I don’t even know if I can make up for it all. I just wanted you to know that I’m going to keep trying."

Willow looked at the other girl, and managed to see past the green hair that had for so long differentiated her from the friend she’d once had. She went and sat down on the chest too.

"You really hurt me," she said.

Amity nodded. "I know."

"You made me think I wasn’t good enough to be anyone’s friend because I wasn’t good at magic."

"… _I know,"_ Amity repeated, very quietly.

"And you put me down and let your friends bully me just so you could feel better about yourself."

Amity’s hands had bunched into guilty fists over the bottom of her tunic. "Willow, I’m so sorry." She looked up at her with pained eyes. "I promise I will never make you feel like you aren’t good enough ever again."

Willow took in her old friend’s desperate expression. Then she looked forward, running through everything in her mind, trying to figure out whether she believed her. Eventually, she came to a conclusion.

"I never wanted to forgive you," Willow said.

There were a long few seconds of tense silence. Then she leaned her head over and rested it on Amity’s shoulder.

"But I’m glad I have."

Amity was looking over at her with surprise. Then her eyes started to glisten wetly, and she leant her own head over to rest it against Willow’s. The two girls brought their hands together and clutched them, sitting wordlessly in the quiet backstage.

* * *

Eda approached the stage where Lilith and her band were packing up their equipment. Her sister was talking with a young Hexside student with quite heavily applied eyeliner, who had apparently plucked up her courage to double back and shyly ask for an autograph, seemingly having no clue as to the tall, dark-haired witch’s history as a significant political figure. Eda was surprised to see Lilith smiling kindly at the child as they spoke, giving off a relaxed air she’d never shown before. But when the other woman raised her eyes and saw Eda she tensed a little, and gave the student a farewell smile before sending her on her way.

"You did pretty good up there," Eda said as she climbed the steps up to the stage.

"Thanks," Lilith replied awkwardly, moving an instrument stand to the side. "When Amity contacted me, I felt it was the least I could do to make up for how I left things with her at the Covention."

Eda nodded and scuffed her shoe against the stage floor, trying to build herself up to speak again.

"These kids…" she began. "…they really have a way of showing you how you can be."

Lilith gently put down the music stand and turned to fully face her sibling, waiting for her to continue.

"I’ve been thinking so much about everything." Eda brought her hand to clutch at her other arm. "All the stuff that I lost or missed out on. And even though I know how I got the curse now, I don’t think that stuff is ever going to go away, so now I have to decide how to go forward. And out of the things I lost…maybe there’s some that I can get back."

Eda finally met Lilith’s gaze, her voice breaking on her next words.

"And I want my sister back."

Lilith stared, shocked. "Edalyn, I-"

But Eda had walked forward and wrapped her arms around Lilith, cutting her off.

The dark-haired witch’s eyes were now shimmering too, and she slowly moved her own arms to hold Eda close. The pair stood on the stage in that strange human embrace that neither of them had ever known before, but somehow felt they’d been missing all their lives.

* * *

Luz wiped away her tears, but they were soon replaced by fresh ones and her vision quickly became blurred again. Gus scooched along the couch towards her as his friend sniffed loudly.

"You okay Luz?" he asked gently.

Luz took a shuddering breath but didn’t take her eyes away from the spot in the centre of the Owl House’s living room where Amity and Willow were stood; the two girls were both holding one of the karaoke machine’s microphones and were singing into them with gusto. Even though their eyes were fixed on the little electronic display on the floor that was scrolling through the song’s lyrics, they were both smiling and would occasionally throw their heads back dramatically on one of the longer notes.

"The two of them, happy, singing together…" Luz gestured helplessly up to the reunited friends. "It’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard".

" _Hey now, you’re an all-star, get your game on, go play,  
Hey now, you’re a rock star, get the show on, get paid…"_

Luz started blubbering again and Gus patted her shoulder with a sympathetic smile. Amity and Willow really did look like they were having fun and the pair broke down into joyous giggles as the song came to an end.

Luz took a deep breath and clapped until her hands buzzed. "There is no-one in any dimension as talented or beautiful as my girls," she declared

Amity blushed through her laughter and put an arm around Willow’s shoulders, and the other witchling did the same. After Luz had fully dried her face with her hands she hurried over from the couch to poke at the buttons on the display.

"I know exactly what we should all sing next," she said decisively. "Now, he’s not _actually_ a seal, but don't let that-"

"Hello everyone."

The group of teenagers turned towards the voice that had come from the front door, and went suddenly quiet. Lilith was stood just inside the living room with her hands behind her back, but her eyes held a vulnerability that negated her dignified stance. Eda stepped through the open door too and put a hand on her sister’s shoulder.

"Lily’s got something she wants to say," Eda said, and gave her the other woman an encouraging wink. But Lilith still looked nervous and took a second to clear her throat before speaking.

"Edalyn and I have made our peace," she began, "but I know I also need to apologise to all of you. I am sorry for the hurt I have caused, and I hope you will accept me as I try to make up for my mistakes."

Willow, Gus and Amity shared a glance, and then all three looked cautiously to Luz. The human hesitated at first, but then walked the short distance over to the ex-coven leader; the tall woman was giving off an entirely different air from the cold, hostile one she’d had that day at the Emperor’s castle. Luz threw a glance to Eda who returned a smile and a nod, and with the confirmation given Luz relaxed and grinned.

"Welcome to the Bad Girl Coven," she said.

Lilith seemed to have a brief struggle as to whether she would grimace or smile, but in the end it was no contest and a glorious beam lit up her face. She leant down and wrapped the human up in a tight hug; Luz couldn’t help but laugh in surprise and took up the challenge, squeezing back as hard as she could. After Lilith had let her go Luz noticed the witch’s expression had changed to a slightly loopy one, and wondered just how new the pale woman was to the endorphin rush from physical affection. Apparently still riding the high, Lilith rounded on the three witchlings behind Luz and scooped them all up in another embrace – they made a combined, winded choking noise in her tight grip.

Eda was letting out a snorting laugh and her hand came to Luz’s hair, ruffling it. They both went over to where Lilith was releasing her gasping hostages, and with the door left open Hooty wound his way over to stick his face into the group too. Lilith even managed to bring herself to stroke a hand over his circular head, and once she’d seated herself on the couch King hurried over to her lap to claim a cuddle for himself. The sound of laughter filled the house, bonds once broken now re-forged.

* * *

The charming picture of reconciled friends and family sat in a little glass sphere, its flickering brightness shining out in the gloom of the chamber around it. Odalia Blight ran a hand over the Crystal Ball, grazing a manicured nail over the spot where her daughter’s smiling face was being projected.

"How entertaining," a voice sounded from behind her, and Odalia turned to see Emperor Belos stood in her doorway. "I do so love when all the loose threads are neatly tied up."

Odalia gave a short bow as Belos stepped into the Oraclist’s Vault, her small domain within his castle. "Your enemies have been kept occupied, Sire," she confirmed. "My daughter has been unwittingly distracting the human from interfering in your plans any further. And allowing the Owl Lady and her sister their freedom led to them focussing on their division, just as I foresaw."

"Exemplary work," Belos said in a pleased tone. He began walking the circumference of the room, eyeing the predictive paraphernalia on the various shelves. He dipped his fingers into a basin of tiny animal bones, running a small femur between the finger and thumb of his metal gauntlet. "I must admit I did wonder about your recommendation to show leniency to an old schoolmate. I thought it might have been sentiment." He flicked the bone back into the basin, and then turned to fix Odalia with a glowing blue stare. "Or perhaps guilt."

Odalia steadily kept Belos’s cracked gaze. "I am untroubled by such things," she replied. "Although the inhabitants of the Owl House now seem to have resolved their conflicts, so we may need to-"

"Worry not," Belos cut her off, striding towards the narrow window. "You have bought us the time we needed."

The Emperor looked out across the great body of the Titan, watching the sun dip below the sea’s horizon.

"The Day is finally upon us," he said in a cold whisper.


End file.
